Dowen College parents forum, on Wednesday, demanded justice over the death of Sylvester Oromoni one of the students of the school who was allegedly beaten to death by his seniors.
The forum also demanded a change of the school management and hostel teachers, and installation of Closed Circuit Television cameras in all strategic places as well as overhauling the school security system.
The forum gave this position on Wednesday in a statement signed by four persons, namely: Aituaz Kola-Oladejo; Waheed Adeoye, Oluwaseun Bolanle Ajila and Kingsley Kema Agu.
They said they were startled and deeply saddened by the unfortunate incident that led to the death of the 12-year-old boy and that their hearts go out to the bereaved family and pray God to give them the strength to bear the irreparable loss.
According to them, they were still in shock and yet to come to terms with the incident and the accounts so far provided by the school management, students and the media.
The statement further read in part, “But we are temporarily relieved by the swiftness with which the authorities intervened and commenced investigation towards unravelling the cause of Sylvester’s death.
“We urge the school management team and other stakeholders to fully cooperate with the authority in the ongoing investigation. While we would have loved to bring Sylvester back, if humanly possible, unravelling the cause of his death and bringing whoever was responsible or might have contributed in whatever way to book, will not only bring this unfortunate incident to closure for the family but will also serve as a deterrent to other juvenile delinquents in all schools in Nigeria.
“We, therefore, say justice for Sylvester is justice for all.
“On our part as parents, we will work more closely with the school (management/board) to ensure that necessary measures are put in place to prevent recurrence of this unfortunate incident and stamp out bullying in any form from the school.
“We will also continue to appeal to parents, through all available means, to show more interest in what their children do and who they associate within school and at home.
“We appeal to the public to see this incident as an inflection point, not only for Dowen College but also other schools in Nigeria, as recent events have shown that bullying, molestation and other vices among students are common in our schools.
“Therefore, we rely on the authorities for justice regardless of the social status of whoever is involved.
“Dowen College parents need this more, as we are currently in a fix and our children traumatised.
“What happened to Sylvester could have happened to any other child in the school. To many of the traumatised students, Sylvester was a classmate, a roommate, a schoolmate or a friend.”
Credit: Nigerian Tribune