The parents seen slapping a teacher at Starville School, Jahi, Abuja, in a viral video have defended their actions, insisting they were responding to months of alleged bullying and abuse against their child.
The confrontation occurred in the school’s administrative office, where the pupil’s parents confronted the teacher over an incident captured on video.
According to reports, the teacher, Mr. Etim, claimed he slapped the child after the student allegedly pushed him twice. He apologized during the meeting, but the parents then physically struck him.
Educare CEO Alex Onyia followed up on the case and provided further details. He said the incident began when the teacher asked the student to join other pupils in line, but the boy refused and behaved unruly.
“The student immediately pushed the teacher twice, which resulted in the teacher slapping the boy,” Onyia said.
The school responded by sanctioning the teacher, deducting a week’s salary and issuing a final warning. Onyia noted that the principal, Mr. Makundu, apologized to the parents for over 30 minutes before the confrontation escalated.
“The principal apologized for over 30 minutes to the couple,” Onyia said.
He noted that despite the apologies, the parents confronted and repeatedly slapped the teacher.
Following the incident, the school expelled the student and permanently banned the parents from the campus.
Onyia added that legal steps may be necessary to prevent such incidents from becoming a norm in schools.
The parents, through their lawyers at Edbridge Legal, have now pushed back, arguing that the viral video omits critical context.
They claim the child had been subjected to sustained bullying and physical assault by the teacher over several months, leading to recurring headaches and blurred vision.
“Prior to the recording of that video, our client’s child had for months been subjected to sustained bullying and physical assault by the teacher… This has led to consistent complaints of headaches and blurred vision by the child to our client,” the lawyers said.
The parents said the teacher struck their child three times during the incident in the administrative office.
“The teacher struck the child across the face; when the terrified child tried instinctively to pull away, the teacher seized the child and administered two further deliberate slaps… This was not the first assault inflicted by this teacher,” they said.
They criticized the teacher’s explanation in the viral video, describing it as shocking and callous.
“The teacher’s own recorded justification… that the child ‘pushed him like a man’ makes no sense whatsoever… It betrays not correction but a deliberate intention to inflict harm on a helpless child,” the statement said.
The parents also condemned the principal for failing to intervene appropriately. They said the school’s handling of the meeting escalated rather than resolved the issue.
“The Principal’s first act was to commence filming the distraught parent rather than offer reassurance or initiate remedial steps… No apology was offered, no investigation promised, no effort made to reassure a parent who had just learned that the very adult paid to safeguard the child had instead inflicted deliberate harm,” they said.
The parents accused the school of turning the incident into a public spectacle by posting the video online and announcing the child’s expulsion publicly.
“Converting private trauma into public spectacle and worldwide scrutiny is completely unacceptable,” their statement said.
They have issued several demands to the school, including removal of the video, an independent investigation, and implementation of child-protection reforms.
“Remove the video in its entirety from every platform; conduct an independent investigation into the teacher’s conduct; implement verifiable child-protection reforms; retract all false claims regarding the child’s expulsion and the alleged refund of fees; produce and preserve all CCTV records of the child’s classroom,” the statement said.
The lawyers warned that failure to comply would force escalation to federal authorities.
“No child should ever live in fear of the very hands meant to nurture and protect them. No parent should be forced to endure the pain and injustice that our client has suffered,” they said.
They also urged other parents to monitor the welfare of their children.
“Thoroughly investigate the welfare of their wards, especially those at Starville School, where it is painfully clear that the authorities prioritize protecting aggressors over safeguarding the children entrusted to their care,” the statement concluded.
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