BY PAUL EGEDE
Reacting to the rape of a female student of Dein Secondary School Ime-Obi Agbor in Ika South Local Government Area, Ogbe-Nmudein community youths have declared war against truancy in the school.
This was made known to newsmen during the visit of members of Ogbe-Nmudein Community Youths to the Principal of the school during the week.
During the visit, Hon Nwali Egede informed the principal of the school that the youths were not happy when they heard of the rape incident while noting that the sad development gave a negative impression of the community and its monarchy.
He recalled how there was discipline during his time in the school, adding that the youths have agreed to take it upon themselves to patrol the perimeters of the school during school hours and apprehend anyone seen outside the school fence while classes are on.
Hon. Egede maintained that anyone caught would be handed over to the police to be prosecuted.
The Principal of Dein Secondary School, in his response, said that it was a sad development as he revealed that the school took all the necessary steps to ensure that it gets to the root of the matter but unfortunately, the guardian and parent of the victim withdrew themselves from the case.
According to the Principal, Dein Secondary School has qualified personnel, adding that the incident was an unfortunate one. He revealed that the school has eight Vice Principals by merit.
He disclosed that one of the school’s problems is that the fence is very low, and some parts of the wall have also collapsed, making the school porous.
He averred that cases of nefarious acts are not peculiar to Dein Secondary School, but in every school, adding that teachers are doing their best.
Speaking further, he hinted that character moulding begins at home and that parents have a major role to play in what their wards turn out to be.
He thanked members of Ogbe-Nmudein Community Youths for volunteering to help, as the school needs all the assistance it can get.
Continuing, the Principal noted that before now, to curtail truancy in the school, he sought the assistance of a security outfit, which initially helped. However, with time, he noticed that anytime someone was appended, one of the security personnel would know the suspect.
He said this made the process of punishing offenders difficult. That scenario, he revealed, was what made him relent, but with the intervention of the community youths, he believes things would be better.
While addressing students of the school in an emergency assembly, the National Secretary Ogbe-Nmudein Community Youths, Comrade Nicholas Ebegboni, warned the students that they would be going around the school, and anyone caught outside the school fence would be handed over to the appropriate quarters for action.
Ebegboni also warned that any student caught with a phone on the school premises should expect that his or her phone would be destroyed in his or her presence, as he advised students of the school who have phones to leave their phones at home when coming to school.
Among the delegation that visited the school were Mr. Raphael Omorodion, Comrade Nicholas Ebegboni, Mr. Lucky Osadume, Comrade Tony Ibude, Hon Nwali Egede, Collins Ijeamaka, and others.
