by Muyiwa Olaoye
“It was late afternoon, and I joined a tricycle to head home after a long day.
I was tired but happy to have closed early, knowing it was better to avoid regular buses in case of traffic jams.
At the last bus stop, we paid the driver, and as I walked away, I noticed a little girl who had been sitting near me hadn’t gotten off. As a teacher, I suspected something was wrong and went back to ask her what was bothering her. She sighed deeply, like someone snapping back to reality, and told me she was a senior secondary school student returning to boarding school.
I asked further and discovered she was being bullied, despite being in a penultimate class.
I argued that she shouldn’t be experiencing bullying at her level, but she said class is no barrier to bullies. I felt for her and tried to build her courage to face school.
Bullying, once limited to boarding schools, is now rampant everywhere, affecting students greatly and creating a new set of problems we never intended to have in society.
A boy was so severely bullied that he made a classmate his bodyguard, sending him on errands to bully others.
The victims fear them so much that even when teachers try to help, they won’t speak out.
During a school excursion, a parent asked why her son wasn’t included on the list.
We called the boy to join the bus, but he insisted he didn’t feel like going and wouldn’t give a convincing reason.
I investigated and found that the whole class hadn’t paid for the outing, and a classmate revealed that the boy was instructed not to go. It was clear he was being bullied and couldn’t give a clear reason.
School owners must take a stand against bullying and not see it as normal.
It’s a dangerous trend destroying our schools. Strict measures must be taken against bullies, and students must not be left alone for so long. Constant communication with students is crucial. The situation is more terrible than we imagine.”
