National Issues
It Is Unlawful To Cane A Child For Non-payment Of School Fees -By Enoch Samson Peri
From the position of law, it is clear that our law frowns against the caning of children for nonpayment of school fees. Hence, schools should refrain from such primitive and inhumane practices and parents should stand against it too!
It is a tradition in most schools to cane pupils who have not paid their school fees after a given period of time. The philosophy behind caning a child for nonpayment of school fees is indeed funny and unreasonable! These pupils are not the ones paying their school fees! Could it be that the cane is to make them disturb their parents to pay their school fees?
In the case of MASTER DESTINY KALU & MR. INYIMA KALU V MRS. UCHE OBI OWEN &MISS. UDUAK SAM, Suit number: LD/330/2013 (Unreported), the court declared the caning a child for non payment of school fees as not only wrong but unlawful. The above case was a case involving the proprietress of Cedon International Nursery and Primary School, Olodi-Apana Lagos, Mrs Uche Obi Owen, and a teacher in the School, Miss Uduak Sam who were sued at the High Court of Lagos State by Mr Iyinma Kalu and his son, Master Destiny Kalu, a 4-year-old pupil of the School, claiming damages for the permanent injury (blindness) sustained after he was flogged for not paying school fees. The undisputed evidence before the Court was that the Proprietress of the School had on one occasion, after the usual assembly, called out pupils including Destiny who were yet to pay their fees and flogged them. The Proprietress later Instructed the class teacher to flog the pupils again. It was this Subsequent flogging that led to the damage and eventual Blindness of Master Destiny’s right eye. All efforts to save the plaintiff’s eye proved abortive. The court frowned at the action of the school and awarded damages against the school.
In it’s wisdom, the court held that:
“Caning a child for non-payment of fees is not only wrong but illegal. It is trite and universally accepted that caning a child does not have positive effect. Flogging is an abuse of a child and domestic violence against a child. It should be discouraged completely as it is contrary to all known best practices and unacceptable….”
From the position of law above, it is clear that our law frowns against the caning of children for non payment of school fees. Hence, schools should refrain from such primitive and inhumane practices and parents should stand against it too!
