The Management of Early Dew Montessori Academy, G.R.A, Enugu has tendered an unreserved apology to the Enugu State Government for the untoward and unprofessional act displayed by the school’s head teacher, Mrs. Ifeyinwa Okonkwo, who invited armed police officers to the school premises to threaten some school children between the ages of 4-7 for failure to do their assignments.
The act was greeted with wide condemnation from the public especially in the social media and was also condemned by the Enugu State Government leading to the immediate withdrawal of the operational license of the school.
A withdrawal letter by the Hon. Commissioner for Education, Prof. Uche Eze, dated February 20, 2017 and addressed to the School’s Proprietress, stated that the act “constitutes gross professional misconduct and could leave the children psychologically traumatized”, stressing that it also has “the potential of diminishing the person of the child and making him or her live in perpetual fear of schooling”.
The letter added that “this extreme measure of behavior modification demonstrates the inability of the Management of the Early Dew Montessori Academy to cater for the welfare of children and provide an environment of learning for their holistic development”.
Apologizing, the school Management in a letter addressed to the Honourable Commissioner for Education, Enugu State said “we apologize most profusely for the embarrassment to your esteemed office and the Executive Governor of the State whose unfailing support for the education sector seemed to have been sullied”.
The school also tendered “our unqualified apologies to all those out there whose sense of decency and civility may have been offended by the unfortunate incident”, saying that the unprofessional act was “most uncalled for as it was overzealousness by the head teacher taken too far”. The school stressed that “there was no intention whatsoever to arrest any child as alleged” as “no child was taken outside the school premises”.
According to the school, “We promise and undertake that such will never happen again under our watch; and appeal most humbly that the closure of the school be lifted so that our children are not unduly affected negatively by the continued closure of the school”.
It would be recalled that the Enugu State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Eze, on receiving reports from concerned citizens of the unfortunate incident, visited the school and withdrew its operational license, with immediate effect after confirming that the act eventually took place.
