Editorial

Secret ‘marriage’ in Bauchi school
By . | Publish Date: Mar 21 2017 2:00AM
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Parents and elders all over Northern Nigeria, especially, were horrified when a story broke two weeks ago about a secondary school in Bauchi where male and female students were said to have secretly “married” one another. The matter came to light when the school’s teachers heard commotion in one of the halls, only to find out that a “marriage” ceremony was in progress between two students. The male student reportedly paid a “dowry” of five hundred naira while other students contributed money to buy snacks for the ceremony.

Bauchi State Government announced the closure of Sa’adu Zungur Model School in Bauchi after the scandal broke and it set up a committee to investigate it. Bauchi State Deputy Governor Engineer Nuhu Gidado, who is also Commissioner for Education, appointed a committee made up of directors in the Ministry of Education, teachers and the Parent Teachers Association to probe the matter. Both the committee and government acted with despatch because its report was submitted last week and the state government acted on it at the weekend.

Deputy Governor Gidado announced that the school’s principal, two vice principals and the Discipline Master have been transferred from the school. A new principal and two new vice principals were brought from other schools to take over from them. Gidado also announced the expulsion of seven of the eight students who were accused of involvement in the secret “marriage.” He said the eighth student was spared because she was the only one among them that resisted the “marriage.”

Other measures announced by Deputy Governor/Education Commissioner were resuscitation of the school’s PTA, which was said to be comatose. The Ministry’s Zonal Inspectorate was also found to be discharging its duties in an unsatisfactory manner and it is to be totally reorganised. In addition, the school was ordered to take further steps to separate the male from the female students so that they learn in different facilities. Bauchi State Government also announced the revocation of the operating licenses of two private schools, Kings and Queen’s College and Harvarth International School both in Bauchi. Although the reasons for the revocation were not made clear in the statement, it was apparently related to the scandal in the government-owned Sa’adu Zungur school.

This scandal in a Bauchi school horrified parents all over the state and beyond because it indicated that school children were undertaking dangerous practices right under the noses of school authorities and teachers. Schools are often thought to be stricter than parents in monitoring children’s behaviour but here was a flourishing anti-social phenomenon taking place right under teachers’ noses. We still do not know for how long these “marriage ceremonies” went on before they were discovered.

Chairman of the school’s Basic Management Committee (SBMC) Alhaji Muntari Abubakar tried to downplay the scandal by saying, “Yes, there was a ‘mock marriage’ by the students, which is just like all childhood drama where a boy or a girl can claim to be what he is not. A boy while playing may claim to be a king or an emir, but he is not. How can somebody claim to marry while there are steps? There must be involvement of the families of both parties as stipulated in Islam.” The cultural practice is indeed widespread in Bauchi and the North generally where small boys and girls are teased by aunties and uncles as “husbands” or “wives” of other kids. This play is however not extended to children above a certain age, usually about seven. That older, secondary school kids secretly resuscitated and in fact elaborated on this old cultural practice was what gave parents cause for alarm. It is true that the coming of cable television, cell phones, internet and social media have together stretched parental monitoring and control of their children to breaking point. It is however a reminder that we must redouble our efforts in that direction, also by deploying technological alongside traditional tools.


Source: http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/editorial/secret-marriage-in-bauchi-school/190076.html

Wonderment.