When would those responsible for teaching, guiding and protecting start doing their jobs? For how long are we going to fold our arms and watch as our leaders extort us, police brutalize us and our teachers defile us? The moral decadence within institutions of learning has become a thing of concern.
Recently, a post emerged on instablog of a 9-year-old boy who has been defiled by his teacher for over a year now. A confession was squeezed out of the boy after his nanny discovered blood flowing from his anus and reported to his mother. After much interrogation, out of fear, the boy made his confession. The boy had gone through this monstrous ordeal since April last year.
Even as the boy spoke, people still questioned if he was sure he was a victim of the circumstances. The PTA chairman of the school when confronted said the interrogator wanted to ”run down someone’s business”. It’s sad how people would always find a way to dispute peoples stories. Incidence like this has created an atmosphere where victims keep quiet rather than speak up.
In 2018, a Kogi State indigene, Onuche Daniel, confessed to sexually assaulting three of his students. He was a teacher at Divinity Care Nursery and Primary School, Makurdi, Benue State.
An Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court, in February, remanded a 29-year-old female teacher, Adejuyigbe Moni, who allegedly sexually assaulted her four-year-old pupil by inserting her fingers in her vagina.
The sex for grades Documentary by the BBC and these reports show that these events span from primary to tertiary institutions. It’s not a question of if it would happen? It is a question of where and who next? It might directly or indirectly affect you.
Parents/guardians should be conscious and be attentive to changes in behaviour in their wards. A safe environment should be created where wards can report such cases to their guardians. Policies should be made to protect children and proper sanctions should be given to offenders when caught. This can only be avoided through a collective effort and not an individual war.