The Anambra State Government has issued a warning to owners and directors of schools in the state to refrain from taking any actions that could risk the lives of the children entrusted to their care.
Speaking to the Committee of Inquiry established by the state government to look into the case of a two-year-old student at Blessed Wisdom Model School, Housing Estate, GRA Onitsha, who suffered a devastating injury, state Commissioner for Education Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh issued the warning.
The committee was formed by the state government in response to a petition alleging that a toddler was injured at the school two weeks ago and received no first aid, a circumstance that drew the attention of the state government after the incident went viral.
As a result of this development, the state government, through the commissioner of education, ordered the school’s closure.
During Friday’s hearing, when all parties involved in the case gave testimony, Chuma-Udeh criticised the school’s administration for the two-year-old’s physical abuse after the youngster attended the facility.
She was taken aback by the news that the school administration had been unable to contact the child’s family in over three months, instead resorting to “mischievous presentations of all sorts of falsehood through the media” to mislead the public.
She said, “We are for justice, equity, and fairness, nothing can stop us from getting to the root of this matter.”
High Chief A.A. Anagu and his wife Oby, the kid’s grandparents, both gave statements in which they voiced their disgust with the school administration’s apparent lack of concern for the well-being of their granddaughter, the injured youngster.
Anagu claimed they have trouble sleeping because of the awful discomfort their grandchild is in after breaking his humerus at school.
They claim that the toddler’s class teacher told them on the day of the incident that the child’s humerus was broken when a bookshelf toppled on him.
However, the school’s administration, represented by Proprietor Mrs. Ugomma Nkamigbo and Class Teacher Mrs. Ekpera Onyinye, claimed that they had exhausted every available resource in their efforts to have the kid seen by a doctor.
The child broke her humerus while playing, according to the classroom teacher.
The attorneys for both sides agreed that a gesture of contrition on the part of the school administration would have gone a long way towards calming the angry parents and opening the door to a negotiated resolution of the dispute.
