No child should ever be beaten for owing school fees

The money for that might as well be a pound of flesh to the shepeteri demography.

So when the video of a young girl surfaces on social media in Nigeria, saying she preferred to get beaten than be sent out of school, most Nigerians can relate to being sent out of school for unpaid school fees, but maybe not the part where getting flogged was more appealing.

A lot of people have been there, and in hindsight, while the stance of Nigerian schools is understandable (sending kids out) – they are not running a charity, but a business – it is somehow insensitive when you beat students whom they struggle to train.

In a world where we criticize parents for beating their kids, what is going on in that girl’s school, presumably in Delta State must go down as abuse when the fees will eventually be paid. It must be presumed that many parents are too far to pay their kids school fees.

Nigerian private schooling is unreasonably expensive at all levels. In schools where basic amenities of adequate learning environment, recreation facilities, and even chairs and other necessary equipment are missing, children are made to pay as high as N60,000 in Nigeria.

You might ask, why don’t these parents just take their kids to public schools? The truth is, public schools might be cheaper, but when you calculate the fees you expend as a parent as against the terribly low level of education and the possibility of adapting to terribly bad behavior, you understand why private schools are a forever booming business.

Though, many private schools are inadequate, many still operate on the Nigerian belief system that they’re significantly better, with better teachers. Yes, quality education is expensive, but does that mean poor kids should miss good education? No.

This behooves the government to find a middle ground. There is a problem in this country. This country could afford to make primary and secondary schooling affordable or even free. On that, parents can afford the fees and the possibility of sending children out of school for unpaid fees would be reduced.

When you are a teacher on the rungs of society with a monthly pay way below the minimum wage that can barely afford to help your life, you lash out. It is worse when you are the proprietor of a school where parents can ill-afford to pay their children’s fees, yet want them to keep attending your school.

You have to get your money somehow and it’s a precarious situation. Beating, to the average Nigerian parent is nothing but a deterrent to the child; a message that something needs to be done, though it is inherently wrong. Thus, the proprietor knows this, wants to keep children attending his or her school, but wants them to pay the required fees.

He needs to find a solution, so he beats them as a message to their parents, to remind them that fees need to be paid. Ergo, sending out of school is not enough. Unless the government creates an enabling and convincing schooling system, we are likely to see more of these.

At this time, it seems we will only continue the sad case of this girl – a very sharp girl that looks really confident for her age – could open a leeway for more events like this on social media.

No kid should ever be beaten for not paying his or her school fees which is not his or her fault, but the problem is that until the government finds a lasting solution to this, we cannot keep turning to beating children for things that are not their fault.

Equally, if parents cannot afford to train their children, maybe they should consider not bringing them to the world.