Stakeholders in education and indeed every well-meaning Nigerian should roundly condemn the recent incident in Ondo State, whereby the vice principal of a private secondary school was beaten up by an organised mob. And this reportedly happened when the vice principal insisted on maintaining the integrity of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) by seizing a candidate’s phone, which is a banned item.
News reports indicated that at separate times, the mother and her son stormed the school premises, issuing threats over the disciplinary action. Thereafter, she allegedly mobilised a team that pounced on the teacher and beat him to a pulp. The incident bears uncanny semblance to a 2023 episode when a cane-wielding parent attacked a teacher, who eventually slumped and died, prompting the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools in Delta State to demand justice.
It is consoling that the Ondo State Police Command has since arrested and charged the mother and the alleged accomplices. The father has also instituted a counter legal challenge, contesting the school and law enforcers’ account.
The denunciation by the Ondo State government, which triggered the arrests, deserves commendation. The state’s Ministry of Education condemned the attack, calling it a serious affront to the education system and a perilous precedent that jeopardises the integrity of the nation’s schools.
Also notable is the Federal Ministry of Education’s reaffirmation that “any student found engaging in examination malpractice will face sanctions in line with the national examination guidelines (and) any parent or guardian who enables, supports or participates in such criminal behaviour will be prosecuted under the law.” The police’s prosecutorial push is also instructive and should be pursued to the court level for proper adjudication.
The prevalence of parents abetting the misdeeds of their wards, particularly after schools have made disciplinary moves, is disturbing and must be roundly condemned. It is an inglorious descent for a largely conservative nation, where parents have historically been known to help with or even take sides with teachers on child correction. The older generation would recall times when a scolding at school often translated into a feared reprimand at home. This was the golden era when guardians cared to ask, “What did you do?” and carefully sifted the factual from the emotional. Today, and sadly, there is a growing and lamentable crop of Nigerian parents who are unwittingly spawning juvenile time bombs for future society.
In Ghana, WAEC cancelled the results of 483 candidates who sat for the 2024 WASSCE due to possessing mobile phones in examination halls. The sanction, approved by the Ghana Examinations Committee during its 37th meeting on December 16, 2024, followed investigations into irregularities during the conduct of the test. It is a given that students should be refused a chance to sit examinations in an age where some handheld devices now have more digital processing power than yesterday’s computers. That is the rule. The immediate custodian of this guideline is WAEC and, by extension, the vice principal’s college. That parents or other individuals can look an institution in the eye and blatantly scorn its regulations leaves much to be desired from a society that claims it subscribes to law and order.
The Ondo actors are not without shameful precedents. Many institutions in Nigeria are repeatedly violated by persons who seem to have outgrown the system. When it appears that some rich or influential persons and their excesses cannot be curtailed by institutions, it should be no surprise that ordinary citizens insist that establishments bow to their whims. There are numerous stories of individuals attempting to influence investigations by the Police and other law enforcement agencies, or of the Judiciary seemingly lifting its blindfold to steal a peek. Therefore, the implications of the Ondo saga extend beyond the victimised vice principal and his employers. It is an assault on the WAEC institution, and in this context, an attack on one must be viewed as an attack on all.
It is saddening that sanctity and safety at educational premises are no longer guaranteed because parents and thugs can saunter in or loiter around and hold the institution and its constituents hostage. The police spokesperson in Ondo State disclosed that operatives in collaboration with other security agencies were “on top of the situation,” and had worked to ensure the safety of staff and students at the school for the remaining WASSCE papers. Good as that sounds, the pummelling of a vice principal should never have been allowed to happen. It indicates that WAEC, the school, law enforcement agencies, and society overlooked significant lapses in handling security and interrelations. There must be a timely introspection and a review to forestall looming repeats.
The court must not fail to deliver justice by rightly acquitting the innocent and punishing the guilty. It must ensure the submission of an enduring statement to posterity that its long arm will catch up with perpetrators of similar acts. All stakeholders – parents, teachers, students, and others – must acknowledge the importance of maintaining a balance in the delicate and complex interrelationships that sustain educational institutions, and indeed all institutions. There are defined roles and boundaries. Whenever these boundaries are crossed or responsibilities are neglected, society inevitably bears the brunt through undesirable consequences.
