Sylvester’s Death: Let Justice Prevail

Sylvester Oromoni was a Junior Secondary School (JSS) student of Dowen College in Lekki, Lagos State. He was 12-years old at the time of his demise. Reports that have been going viral from the family say that Sylvester was suspected to have been bullied by other students in the college which led to his death.
In a media report, his parents alleged that he was given a substance to drink by those who dealt with him. It was leant that five students were mentioned by the deceased to have been allegedly involved in giving him injuries before he died a week ago.
Dowen College, his former school, in a statement claimed that the deceased sustained injuries while playing football and was treated at the school’s sick bay. The college denied that he was not bullied by any student and said it had carried out a preliminary investigation that they claimed revealed that there was no case of bullying. The school also claimed that its policies were anti-cultism.
Dowen authorities should intensify efforts in unraveling those involved in the act if really the story is true. This is because no parent can be happy that after entrusting a child to a care giver, at the end of the day, that parent is told funny stories about the child.
Like the college claimed, if Sylvester had an injury from playing football and the school knew it could not handle the treatment properly, the parents should have been invited. Some of us have our wards in boarding schools and any situation that is above their care warrants parents’ attention, be it academic, health or social.
One of the reasons for choice of boarding schools for students is concentration and good moral upbringing as some of them can easily be distracted when they attend day schools.  When parents hand over their wards to schools, they expect good news at the end of the day.
It is unacceptable and shocking that a parent sends his or her child to a school while toiling day and night to raise school fees and it turns out to be a waste.  As far as secondary school education is concerned, no student should claim seniority to bully another, no matter the level of provocation.  Simply, reports should be sent to house masters and mothers to settle whenever there is misunderstanding between students, especially in the dormitories. College authorities have the right to correct erring students though mildly.
The level to which a school can handle a child’s problems is limited; otherwise when serious issues come up, parents should be asked to pick up the child for more care.
I wonder why cult activities should be allowed to take place in schools under the watch of school heads. There must be proper check on students’ activities in the dormitories from time to time to fish out those who are not serious with the mission of being in boarding schools.
If truly Sylvester was given a substance which may have peeled his lips and gone to the extent of destroying his internal organs, where were the house masters? If in a school block, what about the teachers? Wherever the students may find themselves within the school environment, there must be a staff responsible for their activities.
The Federal Ministry of Education, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board and all relevant stakeholders, including security agencies and civil society groups should ensure that the truth about what happened to Sylvester is made public. Every child has the right for social protection.
About a year ago, the case of Don Davies, a former student of Deeper Life High School, Uyo in Akwa Ibom State, came up although he never died. His case was also about bullying and malnutrition.
If Master Davies, for instance, was not taking care of himself and personal belongings, he shouldn’t have been handed over to the senior students. The housemaster should have invited the mother. There is no doubt that there are things a school cannot handle for the children.
You discover that some of the students, especially new intakes, find it difficult to cope in boarding schools being their first time of leaving home. When you talk about malnutrition, some of them walk sluggishly to the refectory and sometimes reject a particular meal due to some inexcusable reasons. The truth is that when a child continues to skip meals, he or she must look malnourished.
If the information released by the deceased’s father on the social media is anything to go by, that the late son was given a harmful substance to drink, how did the five students get that in school?
We are in a digital era, parents and care givers should put more efforts at checking the activities their children are involved in. Are there no CCTV cameras in that school?
It is a welcome development as the Lagos State Government has shut down Dowen College due to the death of Oromoni who was allegedly maltreated by his seniors while investigation into the cause of his demise continues.

Earlier in the year, a 14-year old female student of Premier Academy, Lugbe in Abuja, who died of sepsis, is another case that cannot be forgotten soon. In her case, a substance was allegedly found inside of her which nobody knew what or who was responsible for that. It was reported that she could not explain anything about that before she died. One may not also know whether it happened in school or at home.
Cases like these call for concern because each time they occurred, there won’t be good explanation concerning the ugly incidents. It is surprising that students under various schools watch will be suffering all manner of assaults that can lead to death.
Colleges should be able to give account of their students whether in boarding or day school.  Parents cannot continue to lose children in that manner. Children that would have been reared from infancy with high cost of education to the level where they can express themselves cannot be lost like that. Whenever similar incidents occur, thorough investigations should be carried out so that erring students can be punished to serve as deterrent to others.

Furthermore, there should be proper and regular monitoring and supervision of both public and private colleges, boarding or day in Nigeria by officials from both state and federal educational bodies; finding out the performance and attitudes in various schools. We are aware of attitudinal or behavioral change in students so it is important for relevant authorities to do the needful.

A lot of students may be suffering in silence since they may not be able to speak out, parents should always interview their wards especially the girl-child. We are talking about the ones that have been made public; there can be hidden ones which they may be apprehensive to speak about.

It is high time stringent measures were put in place by stakeholders in education to curb the menace of bullying, cultism and assault in our schools.

I am not debating whether boarding is better than day school, what we should be talking about first is consoling Sylvester’s parents.  Investigation should continue till the cause and those were involved are unraveled. If names have been mentioned, they should be interrogated with their parents, although their parents were not in the college when the ugly incident occurred.

In fact, from now, college authorities and care-givers must be aware of happenings in the dormitories. Parents are out there toiling to ensure school fees are available. Who said there is no bullying in day schools? Pray it shouldn’t happen to anyone.

Let’s stop here as investigation into what exactly happened to Sylvester continues.

By: Eunice Choko-Kayode