The Head of the Complaints Response Unit (CRU) of the Nigerian Police Force, ACP Abayomi Shogunle, has berated a primary school that sent a little girl home over unpaid fees.
In a viral video, the little girl can be heard saying that she preferred to be flogged for her parent’s failure to pay her school fees rather than sent home over the matter.
It is a popular practice for primary and public schools in many parts of Nigeria to send home pupils defaulting in school fees payment.
But Shogunle kicked against the practice, saying it could jeopardise the physical and emotional safety of the child.
He shared a video of the little girl with the caption, “A SANE PERSON WOULD NEVER CHASE PUPILS AWAY FROM SCHOOL. To me, a child should not be sent out of school simply because of unpaid school fees. This should never happen in a public school, not even a private school where you hear “We pay teachers’ salaries from school fees”.
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“In my view, the highest a private school administrator can do is to withhold child’s result at the end of term/refuse to register child for new academic session and tell parent/guardian to relocate child to a public school. Teachers shouldn’t add more to the population of out-of-school children in Nigeria.
“Education is very important and should be for all. Academic activities should never be disrupted. Not only physical safety, emotional safety in school is related to academic performance. Pls ecourage all students. My Ph.D. Thesis focuses on managing education in peculiar environment.”
Watch video:
A SANE PERSON WOULD NEVER CHASE PUPILS AWAY FROM SCHOOL.
To me, a child should not be sent out of school simply because of unpaid school fees.
This should never happen in a public school, not even a private school where you hear “We pay teachers’ salaries from school fees”.
😔 pic.twitter.com/MXva74R5Oe
— Abayomi Shogunle (@YomiShogunle) March 15, 2019