Parental aggression against teachers

It was shocking to read in the December 5, 2017 edition of the Daily Trust newspaper that a woman in Anambra state allegedly flogged the teacher of her daughter to death.The deceased identified as Rita was an Igbo teacher and class mistress at Starlight Secondary School, Igidi, Idemili North LGA of the state. She was said to have slumped and died following alleged beating by a woman, her daughter and another man.

The deceased had flogged the daughter of the woman over the latter’s refusal to sweep the classroom. The woman later went to the school in company of her daughter and a male relation with sticks in her handsto confront the teacher. The trio however did not meet the teacher as she had left for a meeting outside the school premises. Reports said the calls by other teachers to calm the woman down fell on deaf ears as she swore to avenge for her daughter’s ‘maltreatment’. While on their way out, they met the teacherat the school gate and they immediately pounced on her; a beating she did not survive. This is a reaction taken too far.

The woman accused of flogging the deceased teacher to death must be unaware of the saying that ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness’. She and her daughter are, perhaps, averse to clean environment. Most good habits that last with people for life are imbibed from the training received in schools. When asked in an interview about the first thing he does in retirement after waking up from sleep every morning, the late Justice ChukwudifuOputa (father of Charley Boy) said he would dress his bed. He explained that it was a habit he formed while in the secondary school.

The school is traditionally a place where, besides intellectual training, learners especially in their juvenile stage of development receive the best of character training. In their attempt to inculcate the right type of values and habits in children, schools conventionally lay down rules and regulations to guide the conduct of students. These codes of conduct that regulate students’ behaviours are basically aimed at shaping their personality with a view to making them decent and respectful members of the society. Lashing is one of the ways defined by schools for dealing with deviant behaviours.

While many parents are friendly and eager to partner with teachers to make sure their children get the best possible education; others seem to have little respect for teachers and their job.In the past, teachers were among the respected members of their communities. Many of today’s parents unfortunately believe that their children must be right while teachers should be wrong.Some of these immodest parents who breed spoiled children are themselves spoiled adults. They express surprise at why teachers or the school or even the society would not just operate in a way that suits their whims. These parents are typically rude, hostile and view teachers as servants whose primary responsibility is to act as a nanny for their children. These are the parents who blame teachers for their children’s lack of manners even as same is a duty assigned to them by God.

Many parents do not really understand what teachers do in the school and in the classroom. Never mind the difficulty in managing the stubborn ones among students; never mind the overcrowded classrooms in which teachers are expected to ensure that learning takes place; and never mind the trouble faced by teachers in handling over-pampered students. If most parents were to try teaching for a couple of weeks, their perception about teachers might change. Nonetheless, teachers could be part of the problem too if they are untrained or ill-equipped with necessary professional skills for the administration of punishment. 

Humiliation, verbal abuse and assault are other forms of abuse occasionally suffered by teachers in the hands of ill-mannered parents. I recall the attack launched by a parent, some decades ago, on the then principal of Queen’s College, Lagos. A (female) student of the College who refused to plait her hair had part of it cut with a scissors during the routine inspection by teachers at a Monday morning assembly. The next assembly saw the parent of the student with a scissors which she used and cut part of the principal’s braided hair. This incident was a national embarrassment.

When I was a house masterin 1987 in one of the federal unity colleges in Abuja, I was ‘privileged’ to be humiliated by a couple. A man walked behind his wife who led him and their two newly admitted children into my office. As part of the procedure for checking students in to the boarding house, I requested that the boxes of the children be opened for me to examine and ensure that no contraband was taken into the hostel. When I found some personal dresses (which were usually not allowed) in one of the boxes displayed on the floor, I removed and dropped them beside the box. Suddenly, the mother of the two boys screamed and said (among other things) to me “Are you crazy to drop my children’s dress on the floor?”

I felt very embarrassed and immediately stopped the checking procedure.I told the couple to come back for the same procedure after a week. When I refused to listen to the plea by the man who was husband to the bad-mannered woman to forgive and forget his wife’s misconduct, he went to complain to the then principal of the college, AlhajiAbdullahi B. Yawa (who later became a director at the federal ministry of education). The principal sent for me and when I recounted the episode which was not denied by the couple, the principal said “I have added one more week to Ndagi’sdeferment order; making it two weeks”. That was a principal who knew the worth of his teachers.

As societal values erode from bad to worse each time a generation succeeds another, tomorrow’s parents are likely to have less respect for teachers; making them even worse as parents.With no legislation to protect teachers against physical assault by parents, the motivation to discipline students in schools is virtually approaching zeropoint. Our federal lawmakers are urged to do something on this. It is sad that neither the Nigerian Union of Teachers nor the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria have separately issued statements on the alleged flogging that led to Rita’s death. May Allah (SWT) guide parents to see child upbringing as a collective responsibility between the home and the school, amin.