I want to first of all appreciate God for not allowing the devil take the glory as regards the incident of the Young boy who tried to harm his classmate with acid because of class position, I am glad the prestigious institution took some certain measures to make sure issues like this doesn’t occur again but I still believe these steps are very good but not really appropriate for this situation. I will make my points succinct for better and clear understanding from my own angle.
First of all, According to Punch, the young boy got the acid substance from the school’s laboratory, we all know that the laboratory in a secondary school setting is known as a special room because of it functions and what it contains.
Even when practical are carried out, the individuals involved are fully kitted to prevent any harmful experience because of the substances involved.
I believe you need to look at the safety measures of your school generally especially the special rooms,even if it needs you to call in the services of a safety expert to work this out.
What if the plan of the young boy was to drink the substance immediately,don’t you think it would have been a different story entirely? Godforbid!!! This is the first step that broke the hedge which gave the serpent the opportunity to bite,but thank God the devil lost the battle,but this should be a lesson.
So it will be very expedient the school upgrades their safety measures to guarantee student safety like having a constant and effective laboratory attendant who stays inside the lab and monitors activities within the laboratory and if there was a lab attendant during this incident,he should be seriously questioned.
Secondly, to a reasonable extent, I still insist that the young boy shouldn’t have been expelled and all the blames shouldn’t be on him. He should be disciplined and counseled. Let us get things straight, am not trying to defend his action, but am just trying to be non-sentimental in my views to be able to capture the best solution to the issue at hand.
According to the news, the girl had defeated the boy twice, is it not obvious that the young boy could have been under pressure maybe from his parent? we all went through this stage and we know how Parents behave especially African parents,the young boy could have been seriously pressurized by his parent for allowing a girl defeat him.
The boy may have obviously thought carrying out this devilish act was the best way, these are factors we should consider. i believe the Parent of the boy and all other parents and the students should be properly enlightened that education is not the true test of knowledge, not as if the students should not be studious, but they should have the mindset that coming out first, second or last in the class doesn’t mean that they are not intelligent and that they will not make it in life, it just means that they just need to put in more effort. Even adults in the University too need this orientation.
Finally, This is an eye opener for everybody and we thank God that nothing harmful happened. The Disciplinary Unit should discipline the boy based on their own disciplinary policy and the counseling Unit of the school should seriously counsel the young boy and every other students in the school, he should be closely monitored, they should take note of his associations what he exposes himself to.
They should continue to re-orientate him and all the students, Infact the re-orientation should be constant especially at the beginning of the term, before examination and when they are about to receive their results and also Parents should also be properly educated not to put pressures on their Children so that they will not be desperate. Expelling the Boy is not the Solution.
Akinmegha Kayode Oluwafemi
Director, Kayode Memorial Schools, Ajangbadi, Lagos
Girl Child Activist
