THE Lead British International School, Abuja, has been shut for three days due to public outrage that greeted bullying among its students since Monday, April 22.
The school management revealed this when it received the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, who was at the institution on Tuesday, April 23.
Videos showing some of the school students bullying a fellow female student went viral on Monday.
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The minister met with some of the school staff members for a briefing on the incident, and the school head, Abraham Ogunkambi, announced the shutdown as an immediate action taken by the management.
“We are Nigerians, we respect rules and regulations, and we are under the law. Because our school is actually recognised and our school is under the Federal Capital Territory. Based on that, Lead British International School, Abuja, is hereby shut for three days,”
On Monday, April 22, An X user, @mooyeeeeeee, posted two videos of a female student being slapped repeatedly by other students of the institution.
There had also been a video showing a group of students beating up a male student who was made to go on his knees.
The ICIR reported that the latest two videos generated public outrage, with many Nigerians condemning the girl’s bullying.
An X user, @sadiqGsadiq, posted a screenshot alleging that bullying has been one of the biggest issues in the school.
According to the screenshot, a student cut her classmate with a knife but was only handed a two-day suspension as punishment.
“Bullying is one of the biggest issues in Lead British International School. And the worst thing is that they don’t even take serious action for it. The punishment they use is always packing trash like…does that make sense? Will packing trash stop me from bullying someone? It does not even make sense, to be honest.
“When things like this happen, and we tell our parents, our parents think we are being dramatic. That’s why we all need you to put back the post and bring awareness because it needs to stop. When I told my mum, she said I was lying. It was when I showed her the video that she believed me,” the screenshot read.
The school, however, announced that it had commenced investigations into the videos.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.
This is not investigative reporting. This street level gist. I’m sorry