Pupil flogged over missing N1,000 to discourage bad habit – Proprietress

The proprietress of Cherish Montessori Cambridge Academy, Delta State, Mrs Theresa Ojigho, who was accused of giving a nine-year-old pupil 40 strokes of the cane for allegedly stealing N1,000 at school, tells ALEXANDER OKERE the circumstances surrounding the punishment meted out to the child

The father of one of your pupils alleged that his nine-year-old daughter was given 40 lashes for alleged stealing. Can you explain what exactly happened?

Last term, we noticed a lot of stealing. You know children will always be children. As they grow, they tend to learn bad habits; sometimes, they are not deliberate. Currently, we don’t have closed-circuit television cameras in some of the classes. The stealing was too much and teachers and parents were complaining. I had to call the pupils and carried out a week-long campaign for them against stealing. We printed banners and did everything just to make sure that the children stopped stealing. I was of the opinion that we might have admitted some children who came from places where they were not taught morals. So, we went from class to class sensitising the children and rounded it off with a party tagged, ‘Thou Shall Not Steal’. At that party, I told the pupils that instead of flogging them for stealing, we held a party for them. I asked them whether they were happy and they said yes. So, I told them that stealing was bad. After the event, we went on vacation.

Meanwhile, we had already suspected that Gina was doing all of that (stealing). A parent bought 22 new notebooks for a child. Gina collected four (notebooks) from the child and the parent kept calling to complain about it. I felt if the parent had written that child’s name on the books, they shouldn’t be missing. So, we went to the classroom and started checking and found out that Gina told the pupil to give her four of his notebooks. She cancelled the name his parents wrote on the books and wrote her name. I told Gina that what she did was wrong and told her not to repeat it. I told her to be contented with what she had. That is called stealing by trick. I think I gave her (Gina) two strokes of the cane that day before I left.

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Were there other instances?

A week after or thereabouts, she was also caught. The pupils said they wanted to have a practical class, and that they wanted to prepare noodles. That was their decision. Each of them brought noodles to the class and they were kept in one of the desks close to the pupil that was handling the project. Gina went there, started talking to the girl, distracted the girl with the conversation, collected the noodles, went back to her seat, bent her head, and started eating them. It made me wonder whether she was hungry. But I just let the matter slide because I believed she would stop the bad attitude after that sensitisation. So many things went missing in the class and it was becoming too much. I told the class teacher to be more watchful but she was so angry that she said we could transfer her to any other class. That is to tell you how bad she felt at that time.

After the Christmas holidays, we resumed and the pupils were advised to have a good attitude. A week after resumption, a parent called to complain about her son’s missing N1,200. I did not expect anything like that to happen. I felt really bad but there was nothing I could do because the pupil’s mother complained two days after the incident happened. So I could not check the bags of the classmates. So, I just let it pass.  Last Thursday (January 26, 2023), the class teacher told me that the stealing had not stopped. I thought she wanted to tell me about the parent who complained about her son’s missing money but she said someone took money from her bag.

What did you do?

I got angry and called all the year five learners. We have been running the school for 14 years and I have never heard of this manner of theft in my life. I told the pupils that I would flog all of them if they did not reveal who was responsible. One of them then told me that Gina brought N1,000 a week earlier and that she brought money to school often the previous term. They (pupils) started revealing all the things they had been doing and we narrowed it down to four of them. One of them told me that one of their classmates always told them to go to other classes to look for pens and pencils.

When I asked Gina how she got the N1,000 she brought to school, she said her uncle gave her N1,000. I knew that her dad didn’t give her money. Instead, he pays for whatever they (his children) buy from the shop; he doesn’t give them money. So, I told her she had either been stealing from home or school. When I asked her younger sister about Gina’s claim that her uncle gave her the money, she said though it was true, Gina spent the money by buying something with it at home. When I confronted Gina again, she said it wasn’t the same money. I have been dealing with children for the past 25 years and have a certificate in child psychology. I already knew that she was lying. I could not ascertain that she stole her teacher’s money but I could ascertain that the N1,000 that was seen with her belonged to the pupil whose mother complained.

At what point did you decide to punish her?

Usually, when pupils commit an offence, we flog them during the assembly. So, I brought Gina and the other boys out and told them we would punish them for what they did. I told their classmates to narrate what happened in the presence of the teachers and other pupils. After that, they (errant pupils) said they were sorry and then we flogged them.

How many strokes of the cane did Gina receive?

I don’t know the number. Her parents have been mentioning a high number that I do not know. Of course, if a teacher had flogged the child, maybe they would have flogged the child excessively or there would be an injury but because I was the one that flogged the child, there was nothing of such. After that, I said I wanted to see Gina’s parents but that day was the Service of Songs for the landlord of our estate that passed on, so I couldn’t wait to see them.

But the father claimed that you gave his daughter 40 strokes of the cane…

That is a lie.

The pupil’s father accused you of threatening to flog him and his wife for questioning you. Is that true?

Last Saturday, they called me to say their daughter said I flogged her because she was accused of stealing. They asked me whether she was caught with the money. But I told them we didn’t have to catch her with the money because she had spent the money. But from the investigation we did, we discovered that she actually stole the money. On Monday, they came and I started talking to them about the nature of children and their habits. After talking to them, I told them to keep an eye on Gina. I thought I was talking to people that were listening to me. Her mother started threatening to beat me, so I told her to leave my office if she was not ready to talk with reason or listen to me. I was already angry. My husband took her husband to a corner to try to talk to him. I asked her why she didn’t come to the school when the incident happened but she said it was because her child refused to talk at home. So, my husband told her that if her child refused to talk at home it was a sign her child was guilty. A child that is not guilty would feel bad that they were embarrassed at school and tell their parents immediately after they got home. There was nothing her mother did not say to me. We bring a child out and flog them during the assembly to deter others from doing the same thing and to shame the child; her mother kept saying she would deal with me, so I picked up a cane and told her to do what she wanted to do and leave the school premises because she was disorganising the school on a Monday morning.

The father of the pupil said you should have informed him about the allegation instead of flogging her. Do you think you should have done that?

Yes. Yesterday (Monday, January 31), he said that and I apologised. I had told the teachers that I wanted to see her parents but she didn’t want her parents to know that she did something bad at school until the mother’s sister said she (Gina) stole at school and was flogged.

Her father also alleged that the beating you gave his daughter left her traumatised and depressed. Will you take responsibility for that?

Disciplining a child in front of a school assembly is acceptable worldwide. He said I should have called him to settle the matter privately because the child felt ashamed. The purpose was to punish the child during the assembly to stop the wrong behaviour. It was deliberate. Yes, I take responsibility for not calling him but I didn’t have the time because it was on that same day that the service of songs was held.

Are you aware that his daughter led a protest over alleged maltreatment by her class teacher?

There was nothing like that. He didn’t bring it to my knowledge earlier. The teacher did not even mention his daughter’s name when the money went missing. It was when I threatened to punish the entire class that all fingers pointed at Gina and the other boys and they were all punished. The other parents accepted the punishment. So, why is it difficult for him? The child was flogged to shame the bad habit. That was all.