Pupil sues teacher for N500m over loss of eye
On September 14, 2011 · In News

By Gabriel Enogholase
BENIN—A 10-year-old primary four pupil of Okhoro Primary School, Okhoro, Benin, Edo State (names withheld) has instituted a N500 million suit against her teacher, Mrs. Mercy Iyobosa, before a Federal High Court, Benin, for allegedly beating her with a broom, which caused blindness in her left eye, over failure of a Mathematics test.

Joined as defendants in the suit are Edo State Universal Basic Education Commission, SUBEB; Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEB, Edo State Government, and Egor Local Government Education Board.

The pupil is praying the court to declare that the accusation of witchcraft and flogging/beating with a big cane and then a broom by her class teacher for failing a Mathematics test amoun-ted to physical, emotional abuse, maltreatment, punishment, cruelty, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment.

She is further contending that the action of her class teacher has grossly violated her fundamental right to respect for the dignity of her  person as guaranteed by Section 34 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, among others.

She also wants the court to hold that the blinding of her left eye by her teacher, after the beating, while acting as an agent/servant of the other defendants, amounted to physical, emotional abuse, maltreat-ment, punishment, cruelty, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and consequently a violation of her fundamental human rights as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, ACT, and Section 11 of the Child’s Rights Act, 2003.

She is claming N100 million jointly and severally against the defendants as general and exemplary damages/compensation for the excruciating pains, suffering, slander, humilia-tion, inhuman and degrading treatment and discomfort she suffered.

She is also demanding an additional N400 million jointly and severally against the defendants as general and or exemplary damages/compensation for unlawful and unconstitutional blin-ding and eternal loss of her left eye, future pains, inconveniences and suffering.

The pupil wants the court to award another N175,000 jointly and severally against the defendants as special damages for the medical and other expenses that she has incurred.

since the incident.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/09/pupil-sues-teacher-for-n500m-over-loss-of-eye/

Naija Education. . . Dem go beat you die and you must know am BY force.

This make me remember my teacher for pry 4, Mr Larry Literature teacher. shoe me your buttocks?

@post.


500 miller too much naaa. . . . . how much the teacher dey earn for month?

Please and please, give me the contact of this little girl, i will love to give her financial support to win this case!!!

@seedord

seedord247:

Naija Education. . . Dem go beat you die and you must know am BY force.

This make me remember my teacher for pry 4, Mr Larry Literature teacher. shoe me your buttocks?

@post.


500 miller too much naaa. . . . . how much the teacher dey earn for month?

, that girl should sue for a billion,
How much are Ur eyes worth

a child just lost an eye for failing mathematics, she should be paid all the medical bills including the money used in taking trips abroad, she should be paid damage fee, psychological, emotional and physical, what about the hindrances she would face from using one eye, she has lost 50% of her peripheral vision and this implies that she would never be able to drive or engage in professional sport, she should be compensated for that too because since she cant carry out normal activities that requires two eyes, she has to pay someone to do it,

so u see, if you consider all these variables and constants, you would realise that 500million naira is quite chicken change.

thank you.

I hope she wins the case. So many psychopath disguised as teachers in nigeria

the techer cant get 500million but i pity d small girl oooooooo

Abayomin70:

the techer cant get 500million but i pity d small girl oooooooo

Yes a teacher cant get 500million,
He or she would file for bankruptcy,
it would be accepted and the court would liquidate all her properties.
and take chumps of her future salaries till she is able to pay,

she is in deep , really deep sh it

Hehehe 9ja don go nuclear, seeeee money,
But the money too much ooo, all the teachers in Benin put together cannot vomit this kind of money,
Wish her the best though

the money can only be paid with 250 teachers pension money @ the rate of N2.5m each

Abayomin70:

the techer cant get 500million but i pity d small girl oooooooo

Vicarious liabilty. . . the responsibility will be shifted to her employers . . .the school.


However on grounds of social policy, I think she'll get only compensatory damages for hospital costs. . . letting her get away with this could lead to a floodgate of cases of the this nature.
The fact that it's also a school and not a totally commercial enterprise could even mean she'll go with far less.

The courts will not be willing to make a decision that can change the whole system of corporal punishment and possibly the Nigerian educational system.

How much is the girl and her parent worth?

playah P:

Yes a teacher cant get 500million,
[size=18pt]He or she would file for bankruptcy[/size],
it would be accepted and the court would liquidate all her properties.
and take chumps of her future salaries till she is able to pay,

she is in deep , really deep sh it

for dis land? a dream even inception is yet to create.

@ topic,
i hope something positive comes out of it. God bless obodo naija!


singing: ". . . no more pain baby, baby . . . "

Sorry for d little digression,but dis girls case buttresses d point I made y/d on d olisa and dewunmi's of d beats fm case:it gives a shame to d lame excuse put up by dewunmi dt he is leavin evrytin in God's hand bc Olisa is a "bigman";dis is a an adolescent girl who at dis tender age,mayb coerced by odas,but is willin to assert her rights and get compensated for damages,and here is a full blown adult physically,psychologically and emotionally abused,yet shamefully says he's leaving evrytin to God,as if God wi come down to fight our battles for us.Go girl,@least ur case will show people dt u don't act d way u feel jst because u av d power and authority to do so.

Things will never change!

OAM4J:

Pupil sues teacher for N500m over loss of eye
On September 14, 2011 · In News


The pupil is praying the court to declare that the accusation of witchcraft and flogging/beating with a big cane and then a broom by her class teacher [b]for failing a Mathematics test [/b]amoun-ted to physical, emotional abuse, maltreatment, punishment, cruelty, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/09/pupil-sues-teacher-for-n500m-over-loss-of-eye/

There is a serious problem with the reasoning system in Nigeria especially when it comes to diagnosis of problems or 'cause' and 'effect'. So the girl failed the test because she was a witch? And the teacher was exorcising her in addition to punishing her for failing the test?

This is without prejudice to the teacher's defence though because no matter what, in law, they have to consider the other party's story.

I pity the small girl. She could as well sue for 5 billion.

This will get sense into some teachers.

Dis will teach d useless teacher lesson.

this is what overflogging and over punishment leads to. Nigerians are yet to believe that the talents of many lie in different areas, not everyone will excel at the same thing or academics.

bashy_demy:

How much is the girl and her parent worth?

How much is eyesight worth?
How much is pain worth?
How is dealing with humiliation worth?
What is the worth of losing respect?
How much will you charge for eternal loss of one of  your eyes?

I can see people commenting that the money is too much, yes it may be a bit outrageous but what is the purpose of suing?
It shouldn't be an amount the teacher can afford otherwise it really mean anything to her.

The stewpid wicked teacher must learn some sense and this must be an example to others.
A lot of people in Nigeria confuse discipline with wickedness

She should sue the nigerian state aswell for allowing brutality at schools in the 21st century world.Schools in nigeria are like concentration camps were children are psychologically,physically and mentally abused.The main reason why we are producing nappy headed elites

The main reason why nigerian educated never seem educated is because education is not interactive in nigeria,children are not allowed to express their feelings,thoughts and observations,rather it is rigidly subjective just like religious dogmas.

hickybrax:

I hope she wins the case. So many psychopath disguised as teachers in nigeria

This girl may never be able to recover from the trauma caused by this senseless and barbaric act. Beatings do not lead to automatic excellence. Not everyone is a "book person", hundreds of thousands of people have their competencies elsewhere.

Infact, this is getting worse and worse.

A neighbour of mine's 6 yr old son was partially blinded by a splinter that flew off the cane his teacher used to spank him for whatever reason.

The once active boy now hides away from everone coz he's so ashamed of his face, poor boy . I feel so sad whenever I see him. His parents have left the teacher's fate in God's hands, their claim is even if she gets sacked, it won't bring back the boy's eye so why bother?. They are currently gathering money for a trip to India to see if the eye can be restored. Its something to do with his retina and docs here are optimistic it can be reversed if he gets treatment immediately. Thanks to his young age, wow. Its so horrible how this stuff happens to our kids. Why cane?? What happened to good old fashioned punishment, that usually has a longer lasting impact than cane. In my days, boys who knew they will be caned always come well prepared (wear 2 shorts, well placed books etc) so at the end of the day the aim of caning is defeated.

A teacher also got whiplash from too much caning, then blamed the poor child being caned for witchcraft (daft teacher).


I don't think the contigent damage is worth it.

What is all this leave to God people keep saying in Nigeria. These teachers should be locked up. I am sure their are enough canes in kirikiri. A woman too.

The Girl suppose to sue Ministry of Education in other to get the money .

N500 million for what? More so which court in Nigeria will award such an absurd and outrageous cost against a mere civil servant, say for mere mistakenly blinded a pupil, May be the parents thought the damages cost will be borne by the Government. Wonder they say will never cease to end in Niaja.

This is really pathetic for both the teacher and the kid.

N500m is too much.where will she get it? Though she is guilty for the girl's left eye blindness and should be reprimanded.