Parents and members of some civil societies on Monday staged a protest at Chrisland Schools, Opebi, Ikeja, over the death of Whitney Adediran, a 12-year-old student of the school.
This is also as the Lagos police command says it has begun an investigation to unravel what led to the student’s death.
Benjamin Hundeyin, the police public relations officers of the command, confirmed that the Pen Cinema police division in Agege was handling the preliminary investigation into the incident.
He said that the Homicide Section of the State Central Investigation Department, Panti, would take over the case on Monday, January 13 for discreet investigation.
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Meanwhile, the Lagos State government has ordered a coroner’s inquest to ascertain the cause of death of Whitney.
Moyosore Onigbanjo, the attorney-general and commissioner for justice, gave the directive in a statement on Monday.
“A coroner’s inquest has immediately been requested in line with sections 14 and 15 of the Coroners’ Systems Law, Laws of Lagos State 2015, to determine the cause and circumstances of death,” Onigbanjo said.
Whitney died on Thursday, February 9, at the Agege Stadium during the school’s inter-house sports.
The protesting parents and civil societies were seen at the Chrisland Schools’ gate where they denounced the death of the girl and accused the school of negligence for not providing an ambulance during the inter-house sports.
The Lagos State government had on Sunday ordered the shutdown of the school.
Friday Erhabor, director of media and strategy at Marklenez, frowned at the rate at which children die in private schools these days.
“Honestly, it is so unfortunate, and it is not just Chrisland Schools alone, though the school has been in the news for many wrong reasons; many other private schools are guilty of this negligence.
“I think it is necessary that adequate protection be given to students in schools. This is a mark of irresponsibility on part of the schools, and instead of accepting responsibility, they will start making excuses.
“It is high time the Lagos State government started doing something in that line; the private schools should be monitored and properly regulated,” he said.
Erhabor questioned the rationale behind charging exorbitant fees without making provisions for needful resources; a practice he said is rampant with private schools.
Similarly, Benedicta Eboh, an educationist said Chrisland Schools has had a lot of bad reports previously, and hopes this one would not be swept under the carpet.
“Negligence on the part of the owners upon the exorbitant school fees, yet they failed to put in place the needed facilities. All that these private schools care about is to collect their school fees,” she said.
Bamidele Okuwoga, a legal practitioner described the incident as disheartening and avoidable.
“The death is really disheartening and completely avoidable. First, the facilities at the venue of the sports competition is outside the control of the school and this makes all persons vulnerable to any accident
The school apparently made no provisions for secondary control of the venue and as such exposed the children to potential dangers, one of which eventually befell the 12-year-old student,” he said.
Matthew Adediran, a teacher, though wished the incident was avoided, said death is inevitable which may come at any stage of one’s life.
“Having established this, children under the watch of a caregiver must be adequately protected. Every school must have and adhere strictly to child protection protocols.
Necessary and adequate medical check-up must randomly be carried out on students that show any sign of ill-health. Besides, necessary and adequate first aid facilities must be available at all sporting venues,” he said.
Adediran counselled parents to ensure that they take the wellbeing of their wards more seriously and not release them to go to school when feeling unwell.
“We need to realise that in view of the current exodus of experienced professionals in the medical profession, we are left with rookies and internship students to attend to emergencies, this is how I lost my elder brother at UCH last month,” he noted
