Special Report: “Settling ‘scores’ with knives, bottles, charms,” how cultism, bullying in secondary schools may spell national doom

“…While undisciplined parents embark on a campaign of ‘times have changed’ and would rather fight any form of discipline by outsiders with the last ounce of their strength, some school authorities caved in to this trend and allowed such children to have their way by fostering their indiscipline and wayward practices through silence. Public schools have abandoned the corrective measures of punishing erring students and the young and impressionable minds have become uncontrollable. This moral laxity is more established in private schools who are merely after profit, with exorbitant fees, and cannot afford to lose income if parents should withdraw their wards. The sore continues festering and our society is getting daily exposed to the development of a monster that would destroy its future

Accounts have been made available about parents who slapped teachers for being daring enough to beat their children while the school authorities were full of apologies to such parents. We have heard of cases of such teachers being summarily dismissed or made to undergo various punishments for enforcing discipline among the students while rendering apologies to the ‘monarchical’ parents and their princely wards…,” the above are excerpts from a 2021 column by Muiz Banire, SAN on the ‘culture of bullying in secondary schools’ published in The Guardian detailing the roles of parents abetting their children to commit the bullying crime.

To say Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gun powder due to teenage related cultism and bullying particularly in secondary schools is even mild. A report by Premium Times on December 2, 2019, exposed how over 10,000 students died from cult-related violence in schools between 1996 and 2019, with over 40 different cult fueling academic dishonesty, killings, blackmails, and harassment of teachers and students. This report thus, brings to fore the calls for justice, and the need for a major overhaul of our educational sector, and parenting of our time.

In the course of this Special Report, field work by NewsClick Nigeria‘s team revealed that bullying could come in different forms including slapping, hitting, pushing, using fowl language, name calling gang up and gossiping. We were also able to establish that bullying is more commonly perpetuated by the senior secondary school students against their junior counterparts. The age range of the bullies are usually within 15 to 18 years and their victims 9 to 12 years.

 

Bullying happens everyday in schools and we are not exempted – Teachers 

Some teachers who spoke with NewsClick Nigeria‘s team said bullying and cultism is almost a regular term and occurrence in schools, saying it happens on daily basis. They explained that sometimes, teachers are also victims of the violent acts perpetrated by students.

Mr Afeez Ibitoye, a teacher of almost 18 years experience works with one of the government secondary school in Alimosho, Lagos state. According to him, some students are emboldened to carry out bullying acts on their fellow students because of their parents’ backing, connections and also having been initiated to certain peer groups that are now talking the forms of cultism. He said when such students strike their evil deeds, even teachers are not exempted from falling victims.

“It’s really a sad development. While school managements are trying their best to curb this menace, however, some of the students involved are subtly enjoining the backing of their parents’ societal clouts to cause this mayhem. Some of them are also members of peer groups that one call full blown cults. They sometimes leave students and come for teachers. They waylay them on the road to pounce on them, it’s that bad.”

Mr Ogwuegbu Victor is an undergraduate of Tai Solarin University of Education, TASUED. He is undergoing his Teaching Practice (TP) at a government school and shared his bullying experience amongst his students with us.

“The ones I witnessed happened in the school were I’m currently doing my TP. The school is a government school and you know government schools now indulge children a lot. The school management don’t beat children no matter the offense, but they punish through manual labour e. g cutting of grass, sweeping the school environment, washing the toilet and working on the school farm. Those were the measures used to punish bullying or any other offense of a student.

Going further, the school management once a week conduct a talk show with the students on various topics like bullying, sex, rape, early and unwanted pregnancy, cultism etc. The school management educates the students on the disadvantages and effects of these vices and how they can impede the education, growth and development of the students just as a means of stopping the act.”

A private school principal in Ogun State, Miss Tife also shared her experience of bullying amongst students.

“Cases of bullying isn’t far fetched at all in my years of being a school principal. However that of cultism is very rare as a matter of fact. I haven’t encountered any. The popular form of bullying I have witnessed and that of the cases being reported to me is verbal bullying (name calling). We’ve had cases of students nicknaming other students. I mean terrible nicknames. Just as a case that was reported recently among the Jss3 students calling one of them “odour” according to them , she has body odour. Just imagine that kind of a thing.

“The whole class were outrightly punished and it was also discussed during the next PTA meeting in which we told the parents to inculcate discipline in their children even at home.

“Another popular type of bully here in secondary school  is social bullying ..we’ve had cases of students forming caucus and isolating other members of the class from being part of their so called friendship.

In all we don’t take cases of bullying lightly as the offenders are asked to call their parents to school and still get punished and most times suspended just as the case may be.”

Mrs. Akinwale is a teacher with over 15 years teaching experience in one of the urban secondary schools.

According to him, “in my experience, verbal bullying and social exclusion are the most common forms among secondary school students, particularly among girls. They often use gossip, backbiting, and deliberate exclusion to hurt others. These actions are subtle but very damaging to students’ self-esteem and emotional well-being. It’s less visible than physical bullying but just as serious.”

On challenges faced resolving bullying cases, Mrs Adewale said: “One major challenge is getting parents of bullies to accept that their child is involved. They often deny or defend the behavior. This resistance makes intervention difficult, especially when the student returns to school feeling emboldened. Sometimes, even well-meaning parents underestimate the emotional impact of bullying on victims.”

For Miss Okeke, a teacher in a private school with over eight years of experience, the bullying she has witnessed is not physical. According to her, students in her school engage more in cyberbullying through the various social media platforms including WhatsApp, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Tiktok and others.

“In recent years, cyberbullying has become the most frequent form of bullying in my school. Students use social media platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram to spread rumors, insult others, or share embarrassing content. This form of bullying is particularly harmful because it extends beyond school hours and often goes unnoticed by adults.

When informed of cyberbullying, I document the case and work with our school’s digital safety team. We contact the students involved and their parents, emphasizing the consequences of such behavior. Education is key, so we also use the incident as a case study to teach digital responsibility.”

On challenges of handling such, she said: “One of the main challenges is that victims are often reluctant to report cases for fear of being labeled a snitch. Also, when the bullying happens online, it can be difficult to verify the content, especially if messages are deleted or sent anonymously.”

 

How we defended ourselves against bullies – Students 

An SS3 student, Adefolaju Ayoola tearfully recounted her experience in the hands of bullies. Adefolaju was nicknamed ‘rabbit teeth’ because of the shape of her teeth. She was shamed countless times and had to face the whole class to gain her freedom.

“I’ve been a victim of bullying. That was in my SS1 days precisely.  There was a particular lady in my class who nicknamed me ‘rabbit teeth’ just because of the shape of my teeth. I warned her severally but she wouldn’t stop until the rest of the class followed suit. I was teased till I had to fight one of my classmate then in ss1. The mistake I made was not reporting till I was pushed to fight in school . We were then summoned into the principals office where I narrated how I have always been bullied and all those involved were severely punished.”

A nine-year old JSS 3 student who was hitherto active and highly engaging in class and amongst her pairs recently started withdrawing to her self. Her friends noticed and informed one of their teachers who then brought the issue to the management. Having invited the parents and getting their nod to intervene, it was discovered that a final year student had been bullying and sexually harassing the girl, threatening her to prepare for death anytime she told anyone about the incident that has been going on for weeks.

After sensing the genuine support system around her, she finally summoned courage and informed her parents, teachers and colleagues of the issue. The culprit was summoned, punished and subsequently dismissed.

 

They settle scores with bottles, charms, knives, other dangerous weapons – School domestic staff

Some domestic staff at different secondary schools narrated to this medium the ugly side of the several clashes between rival student groups that most times leave several of them injured and in some cases, killed.

“I don’t think you journalists know the extent to which these students attack each other particularly on their ‘signing out day’ (day of their last paper) and also on day of vacation. Some of these students, particularly those whose parents are into feltish practices (native doctors) feel they have been safeguarded against any form of attacks and so would rather keep causing unrest all around the school. So they come to school wearing and displaying the charms to intimidate fellow students and teachers alike. Some have influential parents who will use their powers to get any teacher that attempts disciplining their children sacked,” a domestic staff at another public school in Lagos said.

A food vendor at another public school said she has witnessed students chasing themselves in the school premises with knives, cutlasses, charms, broken bottles and other dangerous weapons to ‘settle scores’ (avenge).

“Recently, some group of students were  suspended for causing mayhem within the school premises on the day of vacation. They had sneaked in dangerous weapons ranging from cutlasses, charms, knives, broken bottles that they used on a rival group withing the school for an issue that happened on the first day of resumption. According to them, ‘it was a day to settle scores’. On the said day, both teachers and students scampered for safety. It took the intervention of heavily armed security officers to restore law and order that day. The principal who was due for retirement in months was even summoned to Alausa and nearly lost his job if not for testimonies of his competence.”

Another vendor in another school said the students sometimes sexually harass their teachers.

“A female corps members posted here recently sought redeployment after a male student persistently harassed her. In fact, according to her, the student was asking her out and demanding that they have sexual intercourse together. The young lady said she knew the boy in question might have a gang that’s giving him that boldness of harassing her and she’s obviously not safe. So she presented her evidence to NYSC and they approved her redeployment to another state,” she explained.

 

FG introduces whistleblower policy to tackle menace

Meanwhile, the Federal Government in December 2024 announced plans to introduce a whistleblower platform for anonymous reporting of bullying and cultism related activities in schools.

The Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Alausa, revealed the iniative.

Expressing grave concern over the growing prevalence of bullying, violence, and other harmful behaviours in schools, Alausa underscored the far-reaching consequences of these issues on students’ academic performance, mental health, and moral development.

“Bullying and violence in schools lead to declining academic performance, mental health challenges, school dropouts, and the erosion of moral values,” he said.

“To address these challenges, the Federal Ministry of Education has launched several initiatives, including a National Campaign Against School Violence, which aims to educate students, teachers, and parents on the dangers of bullying and violence,” Alausa noted.

Speaking further on upcoming measures, the minister said, “We are partnering with the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to curb cultism and other criminal activities in schools. A dedicated helpline and online platform will be established to allow students and parents to report cases of bullying and violence anonymously.”

The minister called on all stakeholders to play their part in creating safer learning environments.

“Parents need to monitor their children’s behaviour and mental well-being,” he advised. “Teachers and school authorities must create a safe and inclusive environment and act swiftly when cases of bullying or violence are reported.”

The minister also urged students to take a stand.

“Say no to bullying, violence, and cultism, and report any incidents to trusted adults,” he said.

Addressing the role of the media, Alausa emphasised its importance in raising awareness about these vices.

“The media should support the government by highlighting the dangers of bullying and the importance of moral education,” he said.