I could remember with nostalgia how we back those good years tend to respect and fear our school teachers than our parents. Those days when our parents will threaten to report us to our school teachers over our disobedience.

Those are the days when role of teachers in our societies are seen as a noble one. When the society looks upon the schools and churches/mosques to continue the good foundational trainings parents have given to their children.

Those good days when all students/pupils are expected to appear on the assembly /ground hall every morning, hymns (Ancient & Modern Hymn Book), songs sang, moral instructions taken, offenders and disobedient students punished before all to serve as deterrent then students/pupils march to their classrooms in uniform order. Those days are gone.

Why am I writing this? I went to drop off my kid to their school yesterday morning. On getting into the school premises, I saw this man fuming wt anger cos his daughter of about 10yrs told him that one of the Teachers (Aunty) flogged her. I checked the girl, there was no injury, no physical mark to show that she was flogged beyond what is expected from a character molder (teacher).

When the teacher that flogged the girl showed up, come and see how the man was insulting her before everyone including the girl dat was flogged. Telling the girl that it was the money that he pays that her salary was paid from and all blab la bla.

At a point, I feel I should talk to the man. I called and told him that by his action that he is discouraging the teacher and other teachers to help mold his daughter’s characters. Secondly, that his action will make his daughter have less respect for her teachers which will in turn affect her learning negatively. But I saw that the man has a problem understanding simple logic of life.

My question is;Will it be better for us to have a whip-free schools in the country? In as much as I dnt beliv that pupils/students should be punished for every single mistake, I dnt solicit ignoring all their unwanted characters especially now parents don’t have time for their children and left the teachers to do the work for them. We are Africans. We beliv that a parent does not have their children alone. We belive in collective training of a child and daz why I can flog my neighbour’s child dat misbehaved and the parents will come back to thank me for that. What is happening to that tradition.