By Olaniyi Alade
The Nigeria Union of Teachers NUT Ekiti State wing has condemned the incessant assaults and attacks on teachers by either students or their parents.
Chairman of the union, Comrade Oke Emmanuel stated this while addressing newsmen in Ado Ekiti.
Comrade Emmanuel explained that the union would no longer tolerate such barbaric actnn saying teachers are nation builders who should be respected and cared for.
Speaking on the increasing cases of child molestation in private and public schools across Ekiti State, the NUT chairman said it would partner the State Government towards using aggressive means to end the scourge.
Comrade Emmanuel stated clearly that the union would not aid or sympathize with any teacher involved in child molestation or rape saying it is a disgraceful act.
His word “Child molestation is extremely rampant and that some teachers are involved in this act makes it unacceptable. Lately it seems to have become common to hear news and stories involving the arrest of teachers who are being charged with sexual abuse and misconduct involving their students some of whom are as young as 11 years.
“This is an aberration, schools are expected to be a safe environment for children where teachers are loco parentis but these arrests or cases of sexual abuse make people realize that kids are not as safe as we would like them to be when we send them off to school.
“The rate at which teachers too are being molested in schools is also alarming, the union finds it difficult to cope with the ugly situation as teachers are not expected to be treated with disdain.
“Parents are not expected to treat teachers with contempt, but rather they should maintain cordial and robust relationship with teachers to enable them to teach their children efficiently and effectively.
Mr. Oke Emmanuel on behalf of teachers however made some recommendations to the state government such as suspension of students involved in assault against teachers, circulation of identity of expelled students so as not to have access to other schools, ban on use of cell phones and the need for executive order on violence against teachers and non teaching staff in the school system.
Addressing the gathering, the Attorney General Mr. Olawale Fapounda explained that the fight against the issue of rape and child molestation was not out of self aggrandizement but a sincere fight to create a better future for both male and female children.
His words “Put yourselves in the shoes of mothers who dropped their female children in school only to come and pick then in an hotel with blood stains, put yourselves in the shoes of a parent whose daughter can no longer control her anus because she had been sodomized, put yourselves in the shoes of parents whose daughter had to undergo multiple surgeries because she was abused.
“Across our schools in Ekiti State four school girls are being raped everyday either by teachers or from their home, but the worrisome aspect is the participation of teachers in this ugly scourge.
In Ekiti State, we have some of the best and progressives laws and policies against child molestation in the country but despite all these the scourge continued.
“Most of you teachers are hardworking and working under an impossible condition of work yet you wake up daily to give these children the best, why then will you allow the few ones among you to bastardize your image, we expect you to speak up.
“Out of the seventy cases that we are investigating, none of them was reported by a teacher, its either from the parent or students themselves.
Meanwhile, Mr Fapounda affirmed that government was already working on a policy that would ensure prosecution of parents or anyone who assaults teachers irrespective of any guise.
He said the present government would not give room for indiscipline or any action that could jeopardize the struggle for a better educational system.
