The Line between Correcting a Child and Child Abuse.

Activist Bukky Shonibare, on Twitter shared  two videos of a teacher not named flogging students in Government Science School, Nasarawa Eggon, Nasarawa State.

He’s flogging the students, with a cable, before an assembly of other students from the school, while the school principal watches on. We need to be able to draw the line between correcting a child and Child Abuse. Watching this video made me so uncomfortable. Am in support of the term’’ Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child’’. But I think we all have to go back to the drawing board and make some adjustments. It’s important to discipline Children, correct them when there are wrong, but I dare say that you can have kids whose parents never flogged them grow up to be responsible. I have a colleague who said her parents never flogged them for once, off course she scolded them, punished them, but never flogged them with cane, belt or cable, and the five of them turned out well.

I don’t think you have to flog a child all the time, just because you want to straighten that child up. I grew up in the barracks, we had some very rebellious children in the barracks, and trust me their parents flogged the living day light out of them, even flogged and disgraced them publicly. But I remember some of those kids became Professionals at receiving cane. They gladly offended their parents, they enjoyed being disobedient, because all their parents will do is to Flog them. It became a competition, who can Chest Cane more, you know, these children didn’t see it anymore as a form of discipline.

The Society has encouraged physical discipline over the years, that’s why we have high rate of domestic abuse, we see Couples maltreating their maids, step children, even their own kids, and the list is endless. How is it proper for an adult to tell a child to be naked and lie down on a cold floor, and then start beating that child with Cable, belt or even cane? It’s a traumatic experience for that child, who doesn’t see that as correction out of Love, and that kind of Child grows up thinking that’s the norm, then we have a generation of Abusers. The Situation is even more deplorable in Schools, boarding house. Students go through traumas, some have been left Scarred for life by Senior Students or Teachers all in the name of discipline.

 My Kid Sister had her arm broken while in boarding house, my Mum rushed to the hospital when she got a Call from the School Matron that my sister was involved in an accident. Getting to the hospital, I saw my sister in serious pain, it was so traumatic for me seeing her in such excruciating pain, now imagine the kind of pain she must have gone through. Her right arm has shifted, swollen. I could literally see one of her bone shifted out like coming out of her skin, I cannot begin to explain my shock. What kind of accident could have caused this? 

The Matron and the house mistress said she was involved in a fight, we didn’t buy that story at all. We asked for the student she fought with, it was while we were investigating, that the truth came out. She quarrelled with a fellow student at the Tap while fetching water, and the House mistress was called to intervene, and she decided to discipline them. While my sister was explaining her case, the housemistress called several students to carry her, they held her hands and her legs, while the house mistress was flogging her. Imagine the scenario, she was crying, struggling, that was when her bone shifted. She kept screaming her hands, her bones, they thought she was raising false alarm, when they were done with her, they left her in her pain, thank God for other students who came to her rescue and rushed her to the hospital.

Now with this new revelation, my parents confronted the Matron, who was covering up for the house mistress. With all the noise and complaints we made, we only got apologies from the School Authorities, the house mistress apologised and was remorseful though, but the deed had been done, after leaving the hospital, my sister’s arm was still not straight. We took her to those local Orthopaedists who helped in straightening out her bones. She was in serious pain, she was on painkillers. It was such a traumatic experience for her, my parents had to withdraw her from the school.

Seriously, violence never corrects, it only brings Trauma. I know some people argue that physical discipline has helped shaped so many people to become great, to become disciplined and respectful, but how true is that? Let’s take a good look at our society, how has physical discipline helped us at all? We need to call it what it is, some form of discipline is just plain Abuse. Let’s all stand for the truth and draw the line between Correcting a Child and Child Abuse especially in Schools.

Regards,

DammyInspire…

PhotoCredit: GettyImage