There was outrage in Enugu after a Facebook post showed pupils of a private nursery and primary school, Early Dew Montessori Academy, Enugu, aged between four and seven years, in a police van, purportedly arrested for failing to do their assignments, and also for wearing dirty uniforms.The incident took place in the school on February 16.

The picture, said to have been posted on Facebook by a parent of one of the pupils in the school, was reportedly captioned ‘Enugu State Government police in conjunction with Early Dew Montessori Primary School, GRA Enugu, arresting 4 to 7 year-olds and putting them behind a Hilux – the same place they put dead bodies, and where they could have jumped out from fearfully, for not doing their assignments’.

The caption suggested that Enugu State Government was involved in the affair, a development which drew the ire of the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi-led administration.

The government immediately moved to correct the impression, and on Monday, February 20, suspended the operations of the school.The school is currently being threatened with permanent closure.

Commissioner for Education, Professor Uche Eze, who announced sanctions against the school, described the development as ‘an embarrassment to the state government and a serious psychological abuse of the concerned children’.Besides the suspension, the school management was also ordered to apologise, in writing, to the state government, parents of the ‘abused’ children, and the entire people of Enugu State. These measures have to be carried out before the suspension could be lifted.

Failure to do so, the school will be closed, permanently.The commissioner said the measures would serve as a warning to other private schools in the state who adopt ‘unethical practices’ in the name of corporal punishment.But the woman in the eye of the storm, the proprietress of the school, also known as ‘school mummy’, Mrs Ify Okonkwo, has blamed the entire episode on misunderstanding.According to her, the ‘invitation’ of the police, the ‘arrest’ of the erring pupils, and their placement in the police van, were all part of an arranged ‘stunt’ that was meant to discourage indiscipline, and also instill hardwork and good conduct among pupils in the school.Okonkwo said she collaborated with some parents to execute the stunt, adding that she was the one that shared pictures of the incident on a Whatsap forum she created for parents of pupils in the school.Addressing journalists, Okonkwo, who was in company with parents of some of the pupils in the school, said the incident was stage, managed, as the pupils were merely told to get on the back of the van, where they were made to pledge to be of better behaviour.The proprietress said, “Being an educationist, what happened in the school on February 16 was to encourage the children to be focused. I brought the police to come and talk to the children and to motivate them to read on their own without being pushed.“In my mind, I thought I was doing it to bring the children up in a way that they will be attached to their studies. No child was manhandled neither did they point a gun at any of the children.“I was the person that took the pictures and we have a group chat I opened for parents as one family to brief them on the school’s activities.“When I took this action, I posted it (pictures) on the platform, with the caption ‘Some children were arrested today for not doing their homework, for not reading their books, for not behaving well, but they promised to change’.“I didn’t mean any harm; I meant well for the kids. If not, I wouldn’t have mpade it public – it would have been between me and the teachers.”Okonkwo said the parents commended her when she posted pictures of the incident on the Whatsap forum.“When I uploaded it on the platform, parents were commending me,” she said, although she added that the particular parent who in turn posted the pictures on Facebook with the ‘mischievous’ caption, has issues with the school management.Insisting that the pupils were not actually arrested, the proprietress said, “I am aware that those children are still minors and no offence they committed would warrant an arrest. So how do you think that those children were arrested? Who will have that kind of heart to arrest these little children?”One of the parents, Mrs Jessica Nnamani, corroborated the proprietress’ claims.Nnamani said she was at the school on the day of the incident, and played a role in the ‘drama’.