Corporal punishment is not new in schools. Teachers cane erring pupils without their parents raising eyebrow. But the “inhuman treatment” of Ogechi Anyalewechi, a Junior Secondary School Two (JSS II) pupil of Eva Adelaja Girls’ Secondary School in Bariga, Lagos, who was said to have been flogged on her bare buttocks and back has provoked a debate on the punishment. The welts on Ogechi Anyalewechi’s bare buttocks and back are healing gradually after being flogged by her teachers about a fortnight ago. But the case has provoked debate about how to instil discipline in schools. Ogechi, a JSS2 pupil of Eva Adelaja Girls’ Junior Secondary School in Bariga, Lagos, was flogged by two teachers on the directive of the Principal, Mrs C.O. Coker, for being rude to the head girl. The 14- year old was taken to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH). She has chosen not to continue at the school because of alleged persecution by her mates who protested the removal of the principal and four other teachers by the Lagos State government. Last Thursday, the Lagos State Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Princess Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, described Ogechi’s punishment as an overkill. She assured Lagosians that the government would not condone physical assault of minors in the name of discipline. Flogging is a common form of punishment for maintaining discipline in schools. It is also commonly used by parents to call their children to order. While some teachers and parents think it should be phased out, others disagree. Those who disagree are mostly teachers who teach in public schools, like Eva Adelaja, which is run by the Lagos State government. A teacher, who teaches in a public school in Education District V foresees danger and loss of morals if flogging is banned. “You have to experience what we go through with these students before you can ask us not to flog them. Some of them display bad attitude. Some are hardly punctual. Some come to school barefooted or unkempt. Some smuggle phones to school and all they do is waste their time on social media. Some steal or fight. But the only punishment that has been so effective over the years is flogging; and believe me, we are getting result,” he said. Another public school teacher, Mr Salisu Ibrahim (not real names), also thinks flogging is necessary. But he said teachers should beat pupils according to their sizes. “Most teachers abuse the use of cane by using it unequally. For me, I look at a student, his physique and other things which determine how I apply the cane on him. Some students are fragile and so cannot withstand heavy punishment. If you flog such students heavily they may collapse or suffer stripes that could result in injury to their body. Some teachers apply cane on students’ head and other sensitive places. I do not support this,” Ibrahim said. On her part, Mrs Margaret Osifo (not real names), described flogging as a corrective measure, which teachers know how to apply with experience. She said: “Even though we flog, many of us have experience in doing that. I can beat as many as 100 students without feeling any pain. Caning students is not punishment but corrective measure. “In a public school where you have more than three or four principals, who would a parent go to report that his or her child was caned? We don’t tolerate nonsense here. This is not a private school! The more an aggrieved parent chooses to withdraw their wards, the better for us because they are too many in the first place. “This has been a part of our training right from school and we do it well. The Bariga incident was just unfortunate and accidental. However, my greatest fear is that those who take over from us when we are gone don’t even know how to apply punishment on students in a fair manner,” she said. However, not all public school teachers support flogging. A guidance counselor complained about the tendency. “When I see teachers beating students, I get worried; I cannot take it. But when I complain, the teachers tell me counseling would not work on them,” said the counselor. Many adults who grew up in Nigeria attested to being flogged in their school days. Some of them argue that since it worked in disciplining them, it can work on young people today. Mr Babatunde Owadusi recalls being beaten in school. “I still have some of the marks on my back and my parents didn’t do anything. It actually helps in moulding the children. It should go hand-in-hand with advice. But too much flogging should not be condoned,” he said. Another parent, Mr Williams Oladeji, is worried that the anti-flogging sentiment is an imported culture, which if adopted may not augur well for Nigerian youths. He said: “During my days (mid 60s-mid 70s), there was discipline. If you did anything wrong you were flogged. In the secondary school, especially in the boarding house, we were given corporal punishment. However, society has changed and we are looking up to America. In America you cannot beat children. But the maturity of children in America is different from our own children here; so if we just import those laws and behaviour, it’s going to spell doom for us. In America, where you don’t beat children or use verbal abuse and all that, you now have gun problems. Students go to school with guns and they shoot their classmates, it is indiscipline. So if you refuse to flog your children, it’s going to spell doom for Nigeria. In my days, in the boarding house you have senior prefects, they can flog you and you have bruises and you won’t even have the guts to report to the house master. It is discipline. If I flog my child, and he has bruises, the government will tell you it is wrong; but if we don’t, it will spell doom for us.” Whatever level of discipline flogging may achieve, some teachers and parents are nevertheless against it as a form of punishment. Mr Ugochukwu Ukaegbu, a parent, said children should be corrected in love. “It is barbaric; you don’t discipline a child by hitting him/her to the extent you give the child physical injury. Such teacher should be dealt with. During my days they used cane, but you don’t go to that extent to incur physical injuries on any student. During my days there were other measures you could use to discipline your student. For example cut grass or stay out of class but not beating. There are so many ways to discipline children these days. You can actually correct them in love,” he said. Mrs Fabusiwa Olapeju, who is based in the United Kingdom, said children should be counseled. “I did my secondary school in Cross Rivers. If something like that happened, what they do is that they punish, they don’t beat us. If they want to discipline us they give us a field to cut the grass or clean the teachers’ houses. Such beating should never be condoned. Punishment should be better so that they will sit down and reflect on what they have done. After the punishment, they should sit the student down and make sure he/she writes a reflective essay, ‘What happened? Why did it happen? What could you have done differently? So next time should anything like that happen what would you do?’ tell that person to sit down and reflect on it, I think that should help this children better”. A teacher from Ojo High School, Ojo, who pleaded not to be mentioned, also says other forms of discipline work better than flogging. “One thing I have realised as a teacher who once taught in private school is that there are certain subtle punishments that can change students’ attitude for better. “When you ask an erring student to stay outside during a class session or you announce his or her name for punishment during assembly, such measure makes the students feel so ashamed of their deeds,” the source said. “I remember I once punished a female student notorious for noisemaking; and while she was kneeling during a class, her mother visited the school and was emotionally shattered seeing her in that state. The mother burst into tears, saying the girl had put the entire family to shame. The girl did not know when she started crying too. Since then, her behaviour changed. She stopped being a distraction during classes. She now spends more time in the library instead of the company of noisemakers she usually associated herself with before the incident,” the teacher said. Dr Jonathan Akpan, proprietor of Access Schools, Magboro, said dialogue works. “You dialogue with the child; let them see why they are wrong,” he said. Mrs Oluwabunmi Oteju, head of inclusive schools, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB), shares her view. “Flogging is not allowed in schools. It is referred to as corporal punishment. The educationists believe it is not the best punitive measure to take on children. It is better to counsel children. When you resort to flogging all the time, the student will misbehave over and over again, under the pretext that after all, it is just for them to cane me and it would not change anything in that child. But when you counsel, monitor adequately, involve parents and teachers, you would see changes. Effective counseling and monitoring is better than flogging,” she said. For Mrs Florence Aderibigbe, Proprietress, Diamonds Mine Schools, Ogba, said flogging is child abuse. “If you are angry and you flog a child, it can lead to something else, like wounds and scars on the children, which is child abuse. So schools should not be flogging pupils,” she said.

All this long article on top flogging

This one na epistle you composed on top flogging! I think flogging has its merits and demerits, trust me, a "wicked" teacher has a way of automatically making the students sit up and be more serious with their studies than a "lax" teacher. But I think we Africans, we have a tendency to abuse any form of power bequeathed to us, most of those teachers do abuse their rights to beating a student. Remembered an incident when a teacher used wire in beating a primary school student and the the parents didn't take it likely with the school authorities. I think parents can just meet with the school management to mellow down if they discover the students are complaining about it. In my secondary school days, a parent came to complain and flogging was drastically reduced if not abolished sef. You need flogging to make students pay attention and be serious, but moderation is important.

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how can u stop flogging ? it made most people what they are today..well na all this indomie schools .

somewhere in warri (government skl) we are thinking of something higher than flogging sef. for this area 12,13 years don confirm (cultist)

you see a 12 year old carrying dagger and u say u one flog am ? .that one pass flog na

Flogging,canning,beating and the likes should kwontinue,this indomie generation no dey hear word