A toddler identified as Obinna Adeze has died after a teacher, one Emeka Joshua Nwogbo, gave him 31 strokes of the cane.
The suspect, it was learnt, teaches in a school owned by his mother.
Mr. Ebenezer Omejalile, Chief Operating Officer of Advocates for Children and Vulnerable People’s Network, a human rights group, said the baby who was a pupil of Arise and Shine Nursery and Primary School, Asaba, Delta State, was flogged for playing with water and getting himself wet.
The toddler was tied hand and foot by the school owner and her son before flogging him into a coma, Omejalile said, quoting the toddler’s mother.
Omejalile called on the Ministry of Education to properly evaluate and monitor the activities of school owners.
He said, “With a heavy heart, we wish to inform the house that the one-year-seven-month-old baby finally gave up the ghost this (yesterday) morning. Meanwhile the proprietress’ family is still going about looking for whom to bribe without considering what happened to the minor.
“Imagine having unqualified persons to operate schools, employing unqualified teachers in the system.
“Our government should stop propagating laws that enable monsters to operate mushroom schools.
“This is the time to evaluate the so-called private schools across Nigeria by the Ministry of Education’s Quality Assurance Department.
“This is too much to bear; our government should make children their priority instead of making them guinea pigs in the laboratory of unqualified school operators.”
Police spokesman Edafe Bright confirmed the arrest of the suspect, dismissing reports on social media that the suspect had been released from police custody.
