“It is Not Rape or Sexual Abuse, But Child versus Child” – Chosen Generation School Enugu Responds to Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour Among Pupils

Treasure and Kene are five-year-old students in primary one at the Chosen Generation School in Enugu State. Like all children, they grew fond of each other and bonded. While that is not bad, the bond between Kene and Treasure is slightly different.

While in the care of the school and their teachers, the two pupils reportedly developed and started practising inappropriate sexual behaviours. Children are sent to school not only to learn but to build a sound character. However, Chosen Generation school’s students are left unmonitored, and character-building appears not to be part of the school’s concern.

What Happened?

The issue began about a year ago when the minors were in nursery three. Treasure’s aunty noticed that her niece would react a certain way whenever she attempted to wash her private area during bath time. She, however, did not think much of it as she felt Treasure was a child until her friend also discovered it.

“It began when she was in nursery three. I noticed that whenever I wanted to wash her private area, she reacted in a certain kind of way, but I didn’t think much of it. Then I had to travel, so I left her with my friend, and when I returned, she informed me that when she was trying to wash her private area, she said it was paining her.

“So she asked if anyone was touching her, and she mentioned a boy named Kene. When my friend told me this, I recalled that I had witnessed it, so I asked my niece again, and she said Kene used to touch her bum-bum,” Treasure’s aunt, Mirabel, told West Africa Weekly. 

The Schools Reaction

When the school was contacted, the head teacher, Chisimdi Obiefuna Nwokoye, apologised for what was going on and promised that the school would take action against the behaviour. “I called the school headmistress because it happened during the weekend and threatened that I would go to the school and beat up the boy, but she asked me to calm down.

“I went to the school on Monday; the head teacher said they were sorry such was happening. She then called both children and scolded them. She said the school would look into the situation, and I believed her,” she added.

Unfortunately, the school did not take any action or closely monitor the young children because, after a year, they were caught playing inappropriately in school again.

Last month, a girl showed up at Mirabel’s house to report that the children had been seen kissing in school again. Treasure ran away when she called out to them, so she followed her home.

“Last month, somebody came to the house looking for my niece. I asked why, and she said she had caught my niece and Kene, the same boy, kissing. She saw both of them and called out to them, and then my niece ran away. The girl, who apparently is Kene’s sister, said some other children told her that it was something they had been doing, so I asked my niece, and then she started crying and saying many things.

“I called the head teacher, Mrs Nwokoye and informed her again. She said I should go to the school and meet the school mummy, Edna Ucheagu Uzoamaka (the proprietress). So I asked the girl to bring her brother, and we met her. The school mummy was not aware of the first incident but said I shouldn’t beat my niece.

She then said maybe my niece’s vagina might be scratching her, and they don’t teach these things in maternity again and that we were not supposed to be bathing a baby girl and washing her vagina with soap and all,” the proprietor told Treasure’s aunt.

“She also said the boy was instigating the whole thing and probed where he learnt the act. The boy mentioned some names; one was in their class, and the other was in primary two, so she said she would handle the matter. She asked us to return the following day as she would call everyone involved in the act,” Mirabel narrated.

Following their agreement with Mrs Uzoamaka to meet the following day with every party involved, Mirabel returned to the school. However, she was angered when Mirabel called to remind her about the meeting. She asked her to “handle” the situation, insinuating she was going ahead of her. 

“Based on our previous discussion, I went to the school again the next day. I met Mrs Nwokoye and told her everything we discussed, and she said I should call the school mummy and inform her I was around. When I called her, she said she never asked us to return, and she only said she would handle it but that I could go ahead and handle it myself if I wanted to.

“I then asked the head teacher to follow up with the school mummy, and she promised she would “ginger” her to invite the boy’s parents. I also reminded her that the first time this issue came up, we resolved it ourselves, and I did not make a case out of it. It has happened again, so the boy’s parents must be involved.

“A couple of days later, Mrs Nwokoye said she had not had the courage to bring it up with the school mummy after I asked her for an update. I asked her if it were her child, would she also not have the courage to follow up on the issue? She said the school mummy called the parties involved privately and spoke with them,” Mirabel said.

The closest solution Mirabel had to the situation was to pull her niece out of the school, but it was something she couldn’t do because of personal reasons she could not disclose. However, she kept pressing the school to involve Kene’s parents, but they wouldn’t budge.

After all that, I kept quiet because I didn’t know what to do. If it were up to me, I would have pulled my niece out of the school because of how they are handling the issue— their action is not encouraging—but the circumstances surrounding the situation would not allow me. It is part of it that my niece is living with me in the first place.”

The school mummy, Mrs Uzoamaka, on the other hand, believes that “the deed was done outside the class” and there was not much she could do but “use samples of Godly children” to ask the minors to stop the inappropriate sexual practice and the school was doing everything to “ensure it doesn’t happen in school.”

“I eventually reached out to the school mummy on Whatsapp, and she said she called the children involved and asked them not to do that again. She also met one of the boys’ mums somewhere and informed her, but she did not go into much detail because that particular boy denied any involvement. So, I asked if Kene’s parents were involved, and she said,

“I called the three boys and questioned Chimdalu, and he said he doesn’t do such. I instructed them not to try things like that, using samples of Godly children. There wasn’t much I could do than let their teachers monitor them. The deed was done outside the class when the teachers had gone home.

“Every parent should also put time on their children and ensure they return home immediately after we dismiss. Dismissal time is 3:30 pm or 2:00 pm, depending on lesson. The measures the school is taking are ensuring it doesn’t happen during school hours, which God is helping us, teaching them the word of God, and condemning sinful actions,” Mrs Uzoamaka told Mirabel via WhatsApp.

“So I asked her if Kene’s parents were specifically informed because his sister couldn’t just show up at my house, and the parents were not brought into the picture. She said the daughter must have told them, and I wasn’t there to ascertain whether she did not.

“So I asked how sure she was that the girl had reported to the parents. I told her I was unsatisfied with the report because I expected the school to call all the parents involved and not work based on assumption.”

The proprietor said the incident wasn’t a rape or sexual abuse but between two children, and it happened after school hours, so the school wouldn’t jump into matters they cannot defend.

She said the incident happened outside the class, and if they had gone home immediately, nothing would have happened and that it was child versus child and not rape. She said my niece has never reported to anyone, if not that we discovered it. She said we shouldn’t jump into matters we cannot defend, and if I wanted to involve the parents, I could start the move, and she was available,” Mirabel told West Africa Weekly.

What the School Said

When West Africa Weekly first contacted the head teacher, Mrs Nwokoye, she said she couldn’t speak on the matter because she had left the case for her “madam,” who had more experience and had been in the business for a long time.

I decided to leave this case between Kene and Treasure for my madam, the school proprietress, to handle. She is more experienced because the school has existed for 20 years, and she has been in the business longer than I am,” she told West Africa Weekly in an initial conversation.

However, in another conversation, Mrs Nwokoye said the incident happened after school was dismissed, and “nobody was in the compound,” but the issue had been settled.

“To the best of my knowledge, this case has been trashed, but you asked for the measures being taken regarding the issue. The persons involved are children, and the first thing we did was to inform the class teachers, and I made sure they didn’t sit together again in class. And we monitor them strictly during school hours, especially in class. I don’t know if you were told that it happened after school hours and that we had released them. We all had gone, and there was nobody in the compound.

“I was surprised when I heard this case. We called the children, and they were questioned, and we admonished them because I learnt the aunt had flogged the little girl,l so we will not flog again. So we counselled them using the word of God and made sure they didn’t sit together again and told them to go home once the school dismissed. We don’t want stories like this happening again,” she said.

When asked if Kene’s parents were notified, she said,

I did not inform Kene’s parents because I was not there and was only told this was what happened. You know, all these things they said, they said, and I learnt Kene’s sister went straight to Treasure’s aunt. I don’t know how else to explain this to you. This happened after school hours. If Kene’s sister had called me on the phone without going to Treasure’s aunt, maybe I would have called the parents.”

The proprietress, Mrs Uzoamaka, refused to speak on the issue because the reporter did not “introduce herself very well.”

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Kangmwa Gofwen

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