Akeem Lasisi
Star comedian, Okon Lagos, on Thursday said in anger that he would never send his children to boarding schools.
He said this based on the experience of Sylvester Oromoni, a boarding student of Dowen College, Lagos, who recently died in a controversial circumstance.
The incident has, indeed heightened the reservation many have against boarding.
In schools, especially in those days – maybe it still happens – a major debate topic was, ‘Speak for or Against: Day School is Better than Boarding’. Based on points that participants would advance, one could conclude that both have their advantages and disadvantages.
In practical terms, many parents send their kids to boarding schools because they (parents) don’t have enough time to monitor them.
Unfortunately, while many couples have to be away, house helps that could be in charge do not command one’s trust in many situations.
Of course, boarding schools also solve the problems of transportation issues and punctuality especially in a place like Lagos – apart from the fact that it is supposed to aid positive socialisation on the part of the students.
But while students sent to live in schools lose much of parents’ warmth, the risk of bad exposure and negative influence is one that scare many parents. This is the fear of such people as far as Sylvester’s case is concerned, although autopsies have, according to the police and government, said the boy was not a victim of murder.
A major challenge with boarding system nowadays – globally – will be unbridled exposure to the Internet and social media. One can only imagine what the kids will be reading, watching and, God forbid, practising when there are no adults to check them.
Well, while the boarder gains socialisation as noted, the pupil who stays in their father’s house is also likely to earn native intelligence better than the first.
When Okon Lagos and other people thus experience anxiety about boarding system, the fear seems to go beyond the Sylvester’s experience. It is a huge fear that is real and puts a lot of responsibility on managers of boarding institutions.
Expressing his mind, Okon Lagos noted in an online post:
I have never boarded in a hostel in secondary school.
The only time I did, I was in SS3.
With the death of Sylvester and the post-death dramatic twist of events very fresh in memory, I will NOT ALLOW my kids in a boarding school.
If I may, then it will be if and only if like and health security is HUGELY guaranteed.
Even at that, I’m still doubtful.
