19/06/2025
HOW TRACHERS ARE REDUCED IN TODAYS SCHOOLS
💔 "If We Must Ban the Cane, Then Let Discipline Never Be Suspended." …..By Esomnofu Chidiebube Ifechukwu
In as much as we’ve suspended the use of cane or corporal punishm€nt in schools today…
Let us never suspend discipline.
Let us never suspend consequences.
Because in many schools, especially the so-called “big” schools, students now roam with unchecked arrogance — free to insuIT, m0ck, and buIIy both teachers and their fellow students… with nothing more than a warning as punishm€nt.
I once taught in one of those prestigious schools in Anambra State — beautifully built, well-furnished, and very popular.
But beneath the polished walls… discipline was d€ad.
In that school, students were “never to be punish€d.”
No flogg!ng. No firm consequence.
Only “dialogue and caution.”
And many students… took advantage of that.
I was the form teacher of JSS 3.
Among my students was a boy I genuinely liked.
He was funny, always full of energy, and somehow became my friend in class.
But his constant misbehavior was becoming a probl€m.
He would interrupt classes with jokes, throw papers, distract others…
And anytime I corrected him, he’d laugh and say:
“Sir, you can’t do me anything. If you touch me, I’ll report you — they’ll sack you!”
The whole class would burst into laughter.
And me?
I’d just pause… frozen…
A teacher, reduced to a joke.
A leader, stripped of authority.
And yes — there was nothing I could do.
Because in that school, the teacher must swallow every insult.
Because “no child must be made to feel bad.”
Another time, a different student said to me:
“My phone at home is bigger than your own, sir.”
Imagine a child — comparing gadgets with his teacher.
No fear. No filter. No respect.
I don't use the cane — even to this day.
But if you must ban the cane, at least make sure your students are well-trained.
Let there be structure. Let there be boundaries.
Successful life journey to us all.