A gang of ten senior secondary school students in Ogun State reportedly waylaid and assaulted a teacher, Kolawole Shonuga, who stopped one of them from cheating during an examination in the school, Daily Trust reports.
The newspaper said the incident occurred on Tuesday at Isanbi Comprehensive High School, Ilisan-Remo, Ikenne Local Government Area of the state.
Mr. Shonuga while invigilating the unified examination for the SS 1 Art class students, caught one Ashimi Adebanjo, 18 years, cheating and seized his paper.
After school hours, the student ganged up with his peers waylaid the teacher and beat him up at the school’s gate, witnesses told our correspondent.
One of them, Kazeem Adelaja, allegedly hit a stick on Shonuga’s head while others were beating him.
Our correspondent gathered that police personnel from the Remo Division later pounced on the students and arrested about 10 of them.
The police spokesman, Omotola Odutola, confirmed the incident, saying Shonuga had made a formal report on the alleged assault at Remo Police Division.
Odutola also confirmed the arrest of ten suspects.
Our correspondent gathered that the suspects had already been arraigned in court for assault, but the command’s Public Relations Officer failed to answer questions about the arraignment.
The State Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS), Felix Agbesanwa frowned at the incident and insisted that the students must face the the wrath of the law to serve as a deterrent.
“The incident is true and I have been briefed. Our stand is that any student who raises his hand against his teacher should face the wrath of the law. There is no going back on that. No student must raise their hands against the teacher, whether Ogun Teach teachers or permanent teachers, a teacher is a teacher.”
“They must be made to face the law to serve as a deterrent. I learnt they have been charged to court already.”
The state government has also condemned the act and vowed that it would not condone acts of indiscipline by learners across the state.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu gave this warning in Abeokuta while receiving the new Executive of the Mathematical Association of Nigeria (MAN).
He noted that part of the efforts put in place was the signing of Undertaking Forms by learners, parents and school heads to make learners and parents liable for any misconduct of the learners or parents alike, saying the aim was to have a safe learning environment free from the pandemonium of any sort.
“I’m using this opportunity to advise parents to talk to their children, they should warn them, because we won’t tolerate any indiscipline from any child. Any student that misbehaves in school will be dealt with appropriately,” he said.
In October 2021, no fewer than four cases of assault on teachers were recorded in different public schools in the State, forcing the government to introduce a compulsory undertaking signed by all the students and their parents to curb hooliganism.
