Lagos orders closure of Chrisland school over student’s death

The Lagos government has ordered the closure of a Chrisland School over the death of a student.

Whitney Adeniran, a student of Chrisland’s Opebi Ikeja branch, died during a sports event on February 9.

Blessing, the deceased’s mother, accused Chrisland of negligence as her family continued questioning the school.

She said the school made no provision for emergency response at the event, hence didn’t administer first aid.

The mother said the girl had no pre-existing heart condition despite the doctor’s allusion to a cardiac arrest.

But Folasade Adefisayo, Lagos education commissioner, says the school is now closed, pending an ongoing probe.

“We also note the impact of this unfortunate event on family, friends, and acquaintance of Whitney and call for calm as we assure that no effort will be spared in investigating the incident”, the commissioner stated.

Earlier while reacting to public criticism following the 12-year-old student’s death, the management at Chrisland School said Whitney had reported “not-too-buoyant” health on January 20, contrary to claims by her parents.

The school said it opted to take Whitney to a health centre, and not a hospital, based on proximity considerations.

Chrisland dismissed insinuations that there was foul play in the death case while citing that she slumped in public.

“Our immediate response was to take advantage of proximity by identifying the nearest medical facility to take her to, where the doctor on duty administered oxygen and every aid possible to her,” the institution had added.

This is not the first time Chrisland School Lagos would be at the centre of a crisis involving one of its students.

In mid-2022, four teachers were arraigned after a sex tape by Chrisland pupils surfaced online during an outing.

In 2019, an ex-staffer of the Chrisland in VGC bagged a 60-year jail term for defiling a two-year-old girl in 2016.