IZUNNA OKAFOR
Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, has declared that the Ministry would no longer approve any private school that does not have CCTV cameras in its premises and classrooms in the State.
According to Mr. Nnaemeka Egwuonwu, the Public Relations Officer of the State’s Ministry of Education, Commissioner Chuma-Udeh stated this in Awka while addressing the issue of alleged manhandling of a school child by a teacher, Mrs. Oluchukwu Ogidi of the Living Word Magnet School, Awka.
The PRO said the Commissioner, while attending to the case as was reported by the parent of the said manhandled school child, explained that installation of CCTV cameras in school premises has become necessary for the monitoring of activities in the school. This, she said, would therefore become one of the conditions for approving any private school henceforth in the State.
Commissioner Chuma-Udeh, the PRO said, also warned teachers against over-beating school children, hinting that any teacher who beats a child has become an enemy to the child, as the child would no longer pay adequate attention to or understand any lesson from the teacher.
While noting that every child belongs to the State and that the State cannot fold its hand and watch any person molest the child; Commissioner Chuma-Udeh was also said to have ordered the removal of the accused teacher that manhandled the school child from her current class and her placement in another class, while another teacher be used to replace her.
She was also said to have threatened to shut down the school if the Ministry receives any verified negative reports against it again.