The errant Kwara teacher

EVEN reasonable and decent people could be caught in deplorable acts sometimes, but the actions of the teacher recently sanctioned by the Kwara State government for egregious behaviour beggar belief. Casting aside any pretence to civility, the said teacher, Hajia Hamzat Fatimoh Nike, flew into a fit of rage and battered a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) posted to her school, Government Day Junior Secondary School, Kulende, Ilorin, for, of all crimes, “failing to greet her properly”! The corps member, who was reportedly in the school to collect her clearance letter, was left completely dumbfounded as the teacher allegedly tore her white NYSC-branded T-shirt and gave her a thorough hiding. Predictably, the incident sparked public outrage.

In response, the Kwara State government set up an investigation panel, following which it handed down sanctions. In a joint statement by the Commissioner of Education and Human Capital Development, Hajia Sa’adatu Modibbo Kawu, and the executive chairman of the Kwara State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Mallam Bello Tauheed Abubakar, the government said the panel found Hajia Nike Hamzat guilty of fighting on duty, use of foul language, and insubordination and disrespect for the national identity which the uniform of the corps members represented. The statement, which described the teacher’s behaviour as a contravention of public service rules, revealed that she had been demoted by two grade levels. It added: “The teacher is also to be transferred out of her current school as well as undergo counseling sessions. The state government will not tolerate such abuse under any guise. The government deeply regrets the action of the teacher and reassures the management of the NYSC that the development did not represent the people of the state, and it will not happen again.” The statement urged teachers in the state to remain law-abiding at all times, performing their duties in accordance with the laid-down procedure, concluding that the state government would continue to prioritise training on teaching ethics and procedures of service.

Following the sanction, the Kwara State Directorate of the NYSC lauded the state government’s actions. The NYSC state coordinator, Mr. Onifade Olaoluwa, noted that the government’s response had ensured fairness and emphasised its commitment to the security and welfare of corps members in the state. He also charged corps members in the state to be law-abiding and maximise the period of national service to contribute their quota to the advancement of the state, enjoining them to build on various achievements of their predecessors.

There may have been certain undercurrents to this story, but Teacher Nike certainly didn’t acquit herself well in this case. To be sure, the Yoruba, nay Nigerian, culture to which she evidently subscribes prioritises the issue of respect, courtesy and civility, and particularly frowns on young people treating older persons and superiors with any form of discourtesy. That being the case, it would have been well within her rights, if she noticed that the corps member in question had failed to exhibit the appropriate cultured behaviour, to call her aside and correct, even upbraid, her. There would have been nothing wrong with that, particularly against the backdrop of the attitudes of members of the so-called Gen Z who seem to trifle with cultural dictates at will, aping foreign mannerisms that do nothing to project their image. There is, we believe, no Nigerian culture that gives any youth the latitude to treat older persons or superiors, or indeed even younger ones and subordinates, with disrespect. However, while social deference is rooted in cultural dictates, nothing gives anyone the authority to demand it through mindless, untrammeled violence, especially when such action is entirely unprovoked, and deployed merely to exert undue authority.

If the corps member had been rude and the teacher could not stomach her behaviour, assuming that it was so strange and unbecoming, she could have reported the matter to the authorities, who would certainly have resolved the matter. However, her actions in battering and stripping the corps member half-naked, as the horrible pictures of the ordeal uploaded on social media showed, clearly portray her as an arrogant, insufferable tyrant, and it is instructive that her actions have cost her dearly. Her behaviour was too rude, crude and loose for a teacher. If she could batter and strip a fellow lady for not greeting her properly, what would she do if, say, someone insulted her? Behead such a person? It is certainly apparent that Teacher Nike lacks emotional maturity. Anyone who can fly into such a fit of rage and commit the atrocities now established against her by the Kwara State government can do anything. It is a crying shame that a teacher would ignore all decorum and engage in a public brawl right in the presence of her students, to whom she was supposed to be a model, and other members of the school community. Such behaviour is damnable and ought to be punished just as severely as the Kwara State government has done, if not more. It will certainly be interesting to discover how Teacher Nike treated her students before this incident.

In any case, while respect for elders is a social norm, it is not a one-way traffic. Younger persons are not supposed to be treated like trash, not least because they have inalienable rights that must never be denied them. In acting so shamefully and so out of order, Teacher Nike lay a bed of shame. Let her lie on it. We commend the Kwara State government for its prompt and appropriate response in this case.