Since we will start to focus sharply on our boarding schools, it became imperative to rid them of the factors and practices that recently turned them unattractive to parents and students alike. One of them is ‘seniority’, the notorious practice that has degenerated into brutality against juniors by seniors often in form of bullying by senseless beatings, forced labour and various forms of abuse.
Wounds
‘Seniority’—a manifestation of the aggression gene in young students—prevents learning as it instills a debilitating fear in juniors and breeds violence especially between members of the two most senior classes, forcing many students to pass their nights in the bush or on trees. Many would abandon the school altogether. I know cases where victims were rendered deaf or inflicted other forms of everlasting deformity. Seniority leaves permanent wounds of hate and enmity against wicked senior in the heart of the ill-treated junior.
That was how a discipline-instilling practice introduced by early school administrators degenerated into bullying in most public boarding schools. This practice is inimical to scholarship, which requires a quiet, peaceful heart, preoccupied not by fear but the thirst to learn through intensive intellectual engagement with the environment.
2000
In 2000, we banned seniority in the boarding schools I was heading. “Uncle, nothing stopped the brutality of the seniors like the policy of banning seniority”, recounted an ex-student of one of the girls’ school yesterday when I engaged them in the topic in my office. “Every student was made to do her personal chores. That brought relief, different from the situation in my former school”, she recalled.
Dignity
Yes. In the 21st Century of freedom, children must be taught the culture of freedom and rights. They must be taught how to earn respect and obedience through dignity, not coercion. This was the point that an old boy chipped into the conversation yesterday. It was so beautiful, he recounted, that the juniors were volunteering to help us the seniors with little things like laundry and fetching water. I told them that it was the exact feeling of respect that made me serve two of my seniors—Sadiq Yakubu Wanka and our late head boy, Muhammad Mansur back in the mid-1970s at GSS Ganye.
So instead of allowing hate and anguish to pervade our Merit Schools, we have chosen to cultivate love, humility and decency among our students. Destiny has brought these children together. Nothing must stand in their forging the bond of an everlasting love and partnership. It is our responsibility to nurture that atmosphere through sound policies and vigilance.
Ban
Seniority is therefore banned in all Bauchi State boarding schools. Every student, junior or senior, will be responsible for his chores. He will wash his uniforms, iron them, sweep his portion, fetch his water and use only his belongings. Should there be any cause to discipline a student on account of a misconduct, that must be reported to the appropriate school authorities: the prefects, house captains, head boy, duty master, house master, vice principals or the principal, if need be. The doctrine of rule of law must be applied to and instilled in all. It must start right here for these budding youths.
Sanction
Any violation of the ban will attract extreme disciplinary measure including dismissal of the notorious student if necessary. Principals are instructed to provide and ensure the efficacy of the administrative measures that check this abhorrent menace. They will be held responsible for any breach reported in their schools. The Ministry will device some subterranean means of monitoring what happens in the dormitories and other school areas, 24/7.
No to seniority. Yes to love and learning. The policy was effective 20 years ago. And so will it be now, in sha Allah.
Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
Commissioner,
Ministry of Education,
Bauchi.
27 January 2020
