A private secondary school in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, has reversed a statement about a female pupil being abused by a school employee.
The girl’s parents have also received an apology from the school, King Solomon Secondary School.
When confronted by a school authority, the 16-year-old girl in SS3 was clothed indecently and mumbled “offensive comments.”
It also claimed that a report of the incident on Facebook by Celestine Mel, a girl’s relative, was overstated.
Mr Mel’s Facebook post has photos of the student with bruises all over her body allegedly inflicted by the official, identified as Ndifreke.
“The charge was that her school uniform was too short, and goes against the Bible, which forms the moral pillar of the school.
“She wanted to strip the child down. The child tried to run away. Ndifreke (the official) descended on her, using every weapon within her reach: cane, stick, planks. From the head to her back, shoulder, thighs, legs, etc,” Mr Mel wrote.
Continuing, he wrote: “There were bumps, blood and bruises. She looked like a lucky survivor, out from a bombed-out rubble in a war zone. The head bulged out. The eyes blood-shot. Her skin peeled here and there, lacerated and bleeding. She left the school by foot and in pain, and walked home by foot, several kilometers away. Alone. With no mercy. Or money. Or pity,”
The Principal of King Solomon School, Ubong Akpan issued a statement on January 14, saying that the matter has been resolved between the school and the girl’s parents, following the intervention of the police and the commissioner for education in the state.
The affected student, after the resolution, returned to school on January 17, according to Mr Akpan.
Mr Akpan said the school management regretted what happened.
He said the student, apart from the incident, has been of good behaviour since her admission into the school at JSS2.
“The management apologises to the parents and assures of no repeat of such incident for the time their daughter shall remain in King Solomon Secondary School.
“The management hereby wishes to retract all publications made on this matter as if it was never made, especially that of 11 January, 2022,” the principal said in the statement.
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator and a recipient of the D9112 Superstar Icon Award, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
