In raising children to adulthood, a level of caution should always be exercised by all those involved in the task, particularly parents and school teachers, so that the children do not misunderstand the rationale for certain actions that may be taken for or against them at some points and become spoilt.
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A parent, guardian or family member who is fond of declaring war on the teacher for disciplining a student may be making a costly mistake of preventing the inculcation in the child of moral values that are crucial to achieving success in life, and the family would have failed woefully in its responsibility and also emboldened the child to become unruly. In the same way, a teacher who abnormally or inappropriately punishes a student for wrongdoing may be creating a wrong impression of the school environment and undermining the student’s interest in education, besides the possibility of making the child unruly because of the way he or she has been treated. No matter what, a school is not only for learning various subjects but also for learning good character, which is taught sometimes by punishing pupils for wrongdoings. However, we advise that discipline be inculcated in students with care, caution and a full sense of responsibility by the teachers for the benefit of all parties and the parents should allow the teachers to do their work.
The rising spate of parents’ invasion of schools poses a fundamental challenge that should burden every member of society. It is symptomatic of the disintegration of the family life in Nigeria. It is a universal fact that the family is the bedrock of society. Accordingly, if the family fails then all the other institutions of society will fail.
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It is frightening that the Nigerian family institution is failing in its role as the first socialising agent of children and the principal custodian of our societal values and national ethos. Most individuals develop their moral code primarily at home. Sadly, many present-day Nigerian parents no longer teach the right morality to their children. The prevalence of anti-social behaviour such as corruption, bribery, dishonesty, greed, violent crimes, lack of accountability, indiscipline, disrespect to constituted authorities, laziness and moral decadence shows that our family institution is becoming dysfunctional.
Not only do some parents encourage examination malpractices by enrolling their children in “miracle” centres, hiring mercenaries to sit for examinations for their children or outright bribing invigilators, they enable indiscipline and violent tendencies in their children by assaulting teachers who dare to punish students for wrongdoing. While there are abundant cases of parents disrupting academic activities, two recent occurrences underscore the need for this malfeasance to be nipped in the bud.
Caution was thrown to the wind recently at the Silver Bird International School, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, when parents and family members of a Junior Secondary School (J.S.S) 1 student identified simply as Favour allegedly assaulted a female teacher, Sonia Amadi, for “inappropriately” disciplining their child. The parents and siblings of the said student physically assaulted the teacher and also attempted to beat up the school’s administrative officer.
Narrating her ordeal, the administrative officer said: “This morning, I was in my office when three boys marched into my office, locked the door, and threatened to flog me. One was about to flog me, while the other picked a scissor we use for school works, and threatened to stab me under the guise that his brother was flogged in the school.” The boys only refrained from carrying out their threats because other parents intervened. Similarly, there was pandemonium at the Aces Nursery, Primary and Secondary School in Abuja when a father, Muhammed Jimeta, allegedly assaulted a teacher, Sekinat Adedeji, for beating his daughter, Karima Muhammad Jimeta. Recounting the incident, Sekinat stated that she was holding her three-month-old baby when Muhammad Jimeta, assaulted her. According to her, “The pupil (Karima) shockingly disrespected me by giving me a ‘wanka’, that was why I beat her on the leg with a small ruler.”
Justifying his actions, Jimeta claimed the teacher had been assaulting his child for weeks. He said, “This woman has been beating that child for such a long time. The last time she beat her, I talked to the school management and they calmed me down. But she was shouting at me and I didn’t talk to her. After two days, she beat the child and sent her to come home and tell us that she’d beaten her and dared us to do what we wanted to do. If you see the marks and the blood on her legs, she made me crazy.”
The trending onslaught on school authorities by parents is reprehensible, condemnable, and unacceptable. It constitutes a serious threat to institutions of learning and if allowed to persist can completely cripple our educational system. Consequently, schools should put the necessary security apparatus in place to prevent external security breaches and protect their staff and students against attacks. Additionally, they should take legal action against any person who physically assaults either their teaching or non-teaching staff within the school premises.
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On the flip side, schools may be partly responsible for the inappropriate actions of some parents. There had been instances where students were flogged to death by teachers. In the instant scenarios, the teachers probably inflicted serious physical injuries on the students that provoked violent reactions from their parents. However, the parents should not have resorted to self-help but petitioned the Ministry of Education, and Nigeria Police Force (if need be) instead. As a preventive mechanism, schools should devise innovative ways of disciplining erring students without inflicting physical pain or harm on them. Not only has corporal punishment proven to be an ineffective disciplinary tool, but it has also been outlawed by the Child’s Rights Act.
It is a dangerous precedent for parents to display unbecoming behaviour at home, let alone physically attacking others in the presence of their children. Parents are the most important factor in the moulding of a child, hence they should model good behaviour at all times. The value of self-discipline, honesty, humility, obedience, patience, hard work, and respect for elders is first learnt in the family. Ironically, these values are no longer taught in many Nigerian homes. This explains the alarming level of indiscipline and moral decadence in society due to character bankruptcy.
While corruption remains a daunting challenge in Nigeria, however, it is merely an offshoot of a much bigger problem – character deficiency. Nigerians are gradually deviating from the path of integrity, honour, discipline, and dignity because of the weak family system. Many Nigerian youths are victims of parental delinquency. They witness their parents engage in immoral, illegal, and unethical practices without consequences and are greatly influenced by these negatives.
For Nigeria to attain greatness, our family system must be strengthened because “strong families make great nations. The disintegration of the family institution has been the root cause of the fall of most great cultures.” Consequently, society must revert to the culture of sanctioning bad behaviours. People should be held accountable for their indiscretions. We all have a role in ensuring that our family system is redirected to the path of honour, integrity, and discipline by doing the right things at the right time. Otherwise, if the status quo is maintained and the young generation remains misled, the future of the country is bleak.
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