On March 12th, hundreds of primary and junior secondary
school (JSS) students were flogged at Aberdeen Municipal School. The school
administration systematically went from class to class and publicly humiliated
students by calling their names from a list and whipping each student with a
rattan cane four times on their buttocks in front of their peers.
The previous day, March 11th, the administration of the
school announced they’d be having a “thanksgiving activity” on the 31st
of March. Each of the 270 JSS students at the Aberdeen Municipal School was
told to bring 20,000 Leones to the school. And, the over 800 students in the
primary grades were told to bring 15,000 Leones. Apparently the school needs 17,500,000Le
(seventeen million, five hundred thousand Leones) or approximately $4,000 to
carry out this thanksgiving activity. On March 12th, the first day
of mass floggings, most of the students had not brought their thanksgiving fees
and were subjected to humiliation and torture. This is tantamount to extortion and
blackmail of students and parents.
The administration further decreed that if students didn’t bring the
money they would be flogged daily. Essentially, the majority of students will
be flogged everyday from the 12th to the 30th of March.
That’s 14 straight days of flogging… for hundreds of students.
According to the Child Rights Act of 2007:
33. (1) No person shall subject a child to
torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment including
any cultural practice which dehumanises or is injurious to the physical and
mental welfare of a child.
(2) No correction of a child is justifiable which is unreasonable in
kind or in degree according to the age, physical and mental condition of the
child and no correction is justifiable if the child by reason of tender age or
otherwise is incapable of understanding the purpose of the correction.
(3) The Corporal Punishment Act is repealed.
Aberdeen Municipal School is a government school and is typical of many
schools in Freetown. It is not a wealthy, private school. Many of the teachers
are not paid. Learning resources are limited. Classroom furniture is scant.
Play yards are barren. And, sanitation facilities fall grossly short of
adequate. **quote from teacher** The school is located close to the Aberdeen
Beach but is not in a posh or wealthy neighbourhood.
Parents of students at Aberdeen are generally not wealthy **quote from
parent**.
Parents have to pay this money… when money, jobs, food, books, etc. are
all costs they also have to cover.
Thanksgivings are part of a school’s activity although it’s not part of
the official curriculum. Apparently, thanksgiving days are a normal part of a
school’s activities… where the students sit through some sort of Christian
church service and then parade through the streets of the neighbourhood.
Students and parents are often forced to buy new shoes, new uniforms, hats,
socks, etc. to facilitate this public display. Usually a marching band or two
is hired for the day to parade with the students. Some of the students are
asked to carry a banner at the front of the parade listing the school and
class. There’s usually a great deal of hubbub and “practicing” associated with
this activity – taking away valuable and much-needed time in the classroom for
teaching and learning. Usually, the school is closed on the day following the
parade to allow the students to “rest”… another missed day of curriculum
delivery. By my rough calculations three school days are lost to this process.
This is insane in a country where teachers routinely complain about the lack of
time to address matters of curriculum.
What will happen to those families being forced to pay? Students will
stay away from school – in this case for up to two weeks – thereby missing
valuable learning time. Students will be afraid to attend classes knowing
they’ll be flogged because they are poor and can’t afford the requisite
thanksgiving fees. Parents will be badgered for money, which is in very short
supply for many. Money normally spent on food, clothes, medications, etc. will
have to be sent to school for the thanksgiving activities.
It’s not fair on families and students who can’t afford these extorted
thanksgiving fees. Essentially, Aberdeen Municipal School, among others, is
punishing students and their families for their inability to pay extraneous
fees. In fact, it’s paramount to the discrimination of poor families. According
to the Education Act of 2004:
4. (1) This Act and any other enactment and
administrative instructions relating to education shall be administered and
interpreted in such a manner as to ensure that there is no discrimination
between pupils or students in the matter of their admission to and treatment in
any educational institution in Sierra Leone…
4. (2) For the purposes of this section “discrimination”
includes any distinction, exclusion, limitation or preference which, being
based on race, colour, sex, disability, language, religion, political, national
or social origin, economic condition
or birth, has the purpose or effect of impairing equality of treatment in
education at any level.
It’s time the Ministry of Education and all government schools rethink
this waste of resources, money, time and attention. Thanksgiving activities may
be a tradition but it’s a ritual that’s time has passed. Given the sorry state
of education in Sierra Leone, it’s time for schools to refocus on the basics
and the essentials, which do not include extorting money and wasting time on
thanksgiving activities.
