by Arinze S. Chiji

“With kids, one would think that the married ones among them would be subtle, but it isn’t so. You begin to wonder, “can they hit their own kids?”

Do you think your child is in safe hands when you hurriedly drop them off at school every morning? Is it not funny or rather questionable that you willingly leave your child in the care of a total stranger for seven hours or more?

The teaching profession is one of the oldest and most delicate of all professions. A teacher has in his care generations, nations, the whole world and can either make or destroy a life. The teacher has so many responsibilities, for it goes beyond standing in front of a class and dishing out instructions to those in his care. This is why more than any thing or profession in the world, the teacher in the classroom setting has to be specially trained before facing a generation – his students.

Our country ( God bless Her), is a country where a young secondary school-leaver is permitted to handle a classroom, while he or she awaits the almighty JAMB. Those who can’t quite cut it in other professions or couldn’t find the job of their dreams turn to teaching to pass time. When asked, “what is your occupation?” the reply is “nothing, but I’m just managing one school like that.” Awful! What is gotten at the end of the day is an unqualified teacher with no passion!

No passion leads this teacher to hit your child at the slightest provocation, curse or use destructive words grooming fear and inferiority complex. The child begins to think lowly of himself and begins to pull back from the society. These hungry teachers, especially those in creche or nursery classes would eat from your child’s lunch box and tell you lies about how your child eats a lot. Wake up! You are feeding an hungry teacher.

My first teaching experience in a suburb in Lagos was an eyeopener. I met teachers who were not motivated, who talked bad about the management (the management could have done more), the branches of the trees at the school’s backyard were used to hit erring or according to “Aunty Bola” : stubborn, olodo, restless, stupid….children. No body part was left out int the beating. It was the head, legs, palms, wrists, knees, back, chest, bums, neck, everywhere! It was terrible.
Aunt Bola and Cynthia were the ruthless ones and they were laid off after inflicting injuries on the poor kids. With kids, one would think that the married ones among them would be subtle, but it isn’t so. You begin to wonder, “can they hit their own kids?” The end product of all these are traumatized kids who weep every morning at the thought of a school day.

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Arinze S, Chiji is an undergraduate at the university of Lagos, studying education and English language in his second year. #AnyBodyCanWrite

30 Days, 30 Voices series is an opportunity for young Nigerians from across the world to share their stories and experiences – creating a meeting point where our common humanity is explored.

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.