The Anambra state government has ordered the immediate closure of Blessed Wisdom Model School in Onitsha over alleged brutal flogging of a two-year-old pupil.
Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, the state commissioner for education, broke the news on Saturday.
The commissioner said the directive followed report that the two-year-old pupil “sustained grievous bodily harm” after being flogged.
It remains to been seen if the pupil was flogged by a teacher at the school.
“According to the report, the victim broke her arm and sustained injuries on her tongue under circumstance yet to be explained,” NAN quoted her saying.
“The report also stated that the proprietress of the school never reached out to the parents of the pupil to inform them of her injuries and no first aid treatment was administered on her when she sustained the said injury.
“The proprietress failed to reach out at any point to the family of the pupil to ascertain her welfare. They just carried on with their school business as if the life of the pupil meant nothing.”
The commissioner condemned the school management’s handling of the situation. She also called out the proprietress for failing to honour her invitation over the incident.
“Every child belongs to the state, we cannot condone neglect to human life. This is why, on Friday, we invited the proprietress to come and explain what happened,” she added.
“The child, her parents and their lawyer were present but the proprietress blatantly refused to appear. This failure to appear led to the decision to close down the school.
“Officers of the Anambra state joint enforcement team were directed to ensure strict compliance with the closure order. The school remains closed until Mr Governor directs otherwise.”
Meanwhile, Chuma-Udeh has constituted a seven-man committee to investigate the matter and directed the proprietress to appear before the committee.
The commissioner said failure to appear before the committee would lead to arrest and prosecution of the proprietress.
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