A
mental case
Mrs. Olufunke Aladeojebi, recently,
the principal of Ajuwon High School, Ajuwon in Ifo Local Government Area of
Ogun State in Nigeria probably within reason as the person ultimately
responsible for the education and welfare of her students might have been
concerned that some of the females in her school on reaching puberty were taking
liberties with their sexual curiosity.
It’s
a dilemma, alright
The principal, in loco parentis was
presented with a dilemma of how to react to the onset of adolescence and the
raging hormones that accompany such natural human development; she could have
reacted in any number of ways that could have presented her with the better
opportunity to inform, educate and probably warn her students of the possible
issues and dangers that accompany exploring and expressing one’s sexuality.
Apparently, she is notably a strict disciplinarian
which in Nigerian parlance almost has nothing to do with discipline and
instruction but everything to do with severe punishment as a means of re-education
that exploits the pain thresholds of the recipient whilst dealing an atrocious
emotional battering to all including the innocent.
These innocents are then literally scared out of their
wits unable to think intellectually of the consequences of their actions apart
from associating it with the fear of shame - that is usually the only weapon in the strict disciplinarian's arsenal of imparting wisdom - Fear nurtured by terror.
This
is sadism
Deterrence has its functions but
when school leaders use their authority as an instrument of pathological sadism
to maintain control of a situation that has probably gone awry, more suffer
unnecessarily and can be so seriously traumatised without essential mental
health help that this might have life-long consequences.
The principal, on suspicion, and I
state again, on suspicion; not that any of the girls were caught in the act of
sexual intercourse. The principal suspecting some of her students were engaged
in pre-marital sex and she was particular about the girls and not concerned
with the boys; she invited a nurse as surety whilst she and the nurse proceeded
without the consent of the girls’ parents to conduct a virginity test.
Crude
is making light of it
This was not some questionnaire to
elicit the truth of her subjective reasoning posited on a warped moral duty to
maintain a sense purity in her school. Rather she proceeded to subject the
girls to the heinous and reprehensible indignity of probing their private parts
with fingers as if to determine if the hymen had been broken and with
glee and euphoria greeting the confirmation of her instincts catch the girls in
the most compromised of situations allowing her to probably expel the girls
from the school and in the process temporarily destroy their future prospects.
It so happened that whilst engaging
in this act of criminality that goes to the extremes of sexual abuse and the
violation of the civil liberties of the girls, the unprofessionally crude and
barbaric act led to injury presented as bleeding which can only be due to these
women having damaged the hymen they were not expecting to be intact.
At the very least and this is not to
condone or offer the remotest absolution to these terribly wicked women whose
savagery is unspeakable, this rotten test should have been conducted by or
under supervision of a qualified gynaecologist.
Society’s
acquiescence
This kind of egregious violation of
the students, especially females is played out without respite in many secondary
schools all around the country and even in universities that somehow act as if
undergraduates are adults who need to be treated as prepubescent or adolescent.
Sadly, we have a society that
condones these acts in the name of maintaining some communal morality imposed
by fear rather than by information and knowledge.
It is then so unusual that parents
have raised the alarm at this sententious abuse of authority that the Ogun
State Ministry of Education have moved to act in the best interests of the
civil liberties and rights of the students than default to type about falling
moral standards that need to be addressed urgently.
We
must help better
As the principal is sent for
psychiatric evaluation presaging committal and consequently barred from ever
being in charge of students, I do hope the students affected are offered
professional counselling and therapy to assuage the trauma they have suffered.
It is important that we recognise
that children have inalienable and inviolable rights that should never be
infringed upon in the name of maintaining some moral standard regardless of
religious instruction or sense of moral duty.
The outrage is more than justified
because we are at a time when between the conflicting influences our children
face, the best we can do for them is to treat them first as individuals,
respect them as human-beings, instruct them with empathy, educate them with
understanding and inform them to enlightenment.
We
must learn better
We should unschool ourselves from
the primitive and outmoded forms of corporal punishment as a means of effective
instruction to engage their intellect, offer them responsibility, entertain
their searching questions, expand their horizons, praise their good work,
inform their curiosity and when we are inclined to condemn anything they do we
should be mindful of what change we want to see and lead with a greater sense
of duty, love and compassion.
All children grow, they reach
puberty and there are emotional issues that come with that development; on
matters of sexuality what our wards need is information and education, we must
agree that is not offered through intrusion and violation of their bodies –
certain things need that we address them clearly without embarrassment than
hope that our wards will gain knowledge through some form of ethereal osmosis.
We
must all be involved
The matter of how we violate our womenfolk
for the maintenance of some societal norm is an extensive topic and it is
seriously hypocritical to place the complete burden of responsibility and dire
consequence on the female when in the majority of cases, it takes both male and
female to engage in the sexual intercourse that concerned that principal.
Our boys are not entirely innocent
of exploring their sexual interests; they are almost always praised for their
sexual conquests without moral sanction whilst their female counterparts are
left to carry the shame of premarital sexual liaisons that sometimes result in
pregnancy.
Boys and girls alike deserve better
of their supposed role models on these matters of sexual development, morality,
education and direction, if we address their bodies rather than really address
their intellect, we have inadvertently reclassified them as no better than
animals – eventually, when retribution comes, a psychological evaluation of our
mental capacities will be the least of our problems.
I will appreciate your views on this
topic.
Thank you.
