The education sector in Nigeria has come under intense scrutiny following the release of a shocking viral video showing a teacher physically abusing a three-year-old boy at Christ-Mitots School in Ikorodu, Lagos State, fuelling widespread outrage and demands for systemic reforms, including the psychological evaluation of teachers before employment.
It is no news that children all over the world often suffer from abuse. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over one billion children globally experience some form of abuse annually. This alarming statistic highlights the urgency of creating safer learning environments in schools worldwide.
Evidence also shows that children who suffer from abuse experience worsened mental health, reduced social-emotional learning skills and poorer educational outcomes.
The Call
Educational experts, parents, and stakeholders are now calling for psychological screening to become a standard requirement for teacher recruitment. Such assessments would evaluate a candidate’s emotional stability, temperament, and ability to handle the pressures of managing young children.
The incident, described as “disheartening and abusive” by Ms Favour Emmanuel, a resident of Rivers State, has reignited conversations about child safety and the mental fitness of educators.
The incident has resonated deeply with parents and Nigerians, many of whom have shared their perspectives on social media and in interviews.
Speaking with New Daily Prime on 11 January, Mrs Victoria Gabriel, a mother of school-aged children in Rivers State, emphasised the importance of understanding and nurturing children’s unique behaviours. She shared her personal approach to managing her daughter’s reluctance to do homework: “Like my child, if I call her to do her homework, initially she won’t be happy, and that act might get me angry. But when I start petting her and speaking positively to her, she will finish it on time. We should remember that children are children.”
Mrs Gabriel criticised the actions of the teacher in the video and called for strict measures against such behaviours. “Teachers are supposed to be friendly. Even if she wanted to discipline the child, she could have used a pencil to tap his hand or scared him with an imaginary cane while speaking positively to him instead of slapping him. Maybe she has a hot temper, but that doesn’t justify her actions.”
She further recommended that school management assess teachers’ behaviour regularly and consider employing parents as teachers. “Parents often have a better understanding of children’s emotions,” she said, adding that she knows of a woman who has been retained as a schoolteacher for over 20 years due to her excellent relationship with students.
Similarly, Ms Chidinma Mathew, another resident in Rivers State, described the video as an eye-opener. She stressed the need for school management to engage with students regularly to assess their relationships with teachers. “This is a wake-up call for schools to monitor their classrooms closely,” she said.
The Background
A video was shared by an X user, @dammiedammie35, on 8 January, sparking a widespread reaction from netizens. The footage showed when a teacher slapped the lad several times, repeatedly asking him to write some numerical numbers.
“Footage from Christ-Mitots School in Ikorodu shows a teacher named Stella Nwadigo being witnessed mistreating and physically abusing a 3-year-old boy, Abayomi Micheal. The footage has raised serious concerns about the safety and well-being of our little ones in school,” the X user described in the shared video.
https://twitter.com/dammiedammie35/status/1876897367154163769
Earlier, the New Daily Prime, on 8 January, reported that police had arrested the private school teacher, Stella Nwadigo, for assaulting a toddler and remanded her to a correctional facility after she pleaded not guilty to charges read to her.
Netizen Reactions
An X user with the name Mazimum said, “A teacher slapping a 3-year-old and then justifying it by saying, “He’s my son” or ‘His mother is my friend, is beyond disgraceful. If this is how you treat someone you claim to care for, how do you treat others? This isn’t discipline; it’s outright abuse. Such behaviour destroys trust in educators and scares innocent children for life.”
Another user, @Jaiyejejeomo, described the arrest as a warning to other teachers to learn, “This will serve as a serious warning and lesson to all other teachers treating and beating their pupils.
While for some netizens, the manner in which the 45-year-old teacher is being called out is unjust.
https://twitter.com/jamesbolug1565/status/1877018772294242426
https://twitter.com/TheJagaban/status/1877295010397257732?t=im42KUJSUw3JdalMNREcJA&s=19
Expert Insight
Mr. Samuel Afolabi, a seasoned education professional with twelve years of experience, emphasised the importance of empathy in teaching. “First of all, if we as teachers don’t identify the root causes of a child’s problem, it will not be kind of all of us to face the end of discipline with brutality or with some kind of harsh response. It will be very unkind of us to do that; empathy will be a great choice or idea to make in place of harsh responses.”
“We should be emphatic,” he said while highlighting that identifying students’ problems is paramount in rendering academic solutions to a child who suffers difficulty in comprehending.
The educational expert describes the recent attack on the minor as a breach of trust and unspeakable in the teaching profession. “Teachers are not meant to cause harm or inflict physical abuse on children or pupils, especially the young and vulnerable ones. A three-year-old child should not be treated in such a harsh manner.”
He advised academic scholars to become patient with their students while inculcating morals and making an impact, noting that children who grow up without love and in an unfriendly environment tend to display violence in the future.
Call to Action
Mr. Afolabi stressed the need for teachers to undergo psychological assessment, stating that it is necessary for all teachers while calling on proprietors and proprietresses to adopt this measure to avoid casualties.
He defined teaching as a profession with foundational and willed great influence or cloud on the character formation and maturation of the child’s brain and mind.
“It is a foundation on which the child builds his or her life,” the educational expert noted. “In this case, it is very important, emphatically, that teachers need to be assessed psychologically.”
For this to be effective, he said, “Teachers must be subjected to training or seminars and workshops where they will be taught to really perform their duties as teachers.”
“Teachers should not be anyone on the street or any layman that is picked and given automation to start teaching students in classes. No, a teacher should be more trained and professionally informed.”
