A disturbing incident unfolded on Thursday at Starville School, Abuja, after an angry couple stormed the school premises and physically assaulted a teacher who allegedly slapped their child. A video of the confrontation, which has since gone viral on social media, shows the parents dragging, hitting, and shouting at the male teacher while other staff members attempted to intervene.
The footage captures the chaotic scene as the enraged mother and father confronted the teacher over what they described as an “abusive and unjustified attack” on their child. Eyewitnesses claim the couple had been invited to the school earlier in the day to discuss a disciplinary issue involving their ward, but the meeting quickly escalated into violence after the parents learnt the child had been slapped.
In the video, the teacher appears visibly shaken as the father repeatedly slaps and pushes him, issuing verbal threats.
A senior administrator at Starville School, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the incident and described it as “deeply unfortunate and unacceptable.”
“We do not condone corporal punishment in any form,” the administrator said. “If a teacher has indeed slapped a student, that in itself is a violation of school policy. However, the assault on our staff by the parents is equally unacceptable. There are lawful and civil channels for addressing grievances.”
On X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and WhatsApp groups, Nigerians remain sharply divided. Some users argue that parents have a right to defend their children from abuse, while others insist that violence should never be used as a form of protest or punishment.
One user wrote: “If you touch my child, I will touch you back. Period.”
Another countered: “Teachers are human beings too. If there is a complaint, use the proper channels. Violence helps no one.”
Mr Alex Onyia of Educare confirmed that the student has been expelled:
He wrote on his X handle:
“This morning I followed up with the case from Starville School Abuja on the couple (Mr & Mrs Balogun) who slapped their teacher. The year 8 child has now been expelled from the school and the parents permanently banned from the school. What really happened was that the teacher (Mr. Etim) asked the boy to line up with other students. He was unruly and the teacher tapped his head. The student immediately pushed the teacher twice which resulted in the teacher slapping the boy. The school sanctioned the teacher with forfeit of a week salary and also issued him a final warning letter never to lay hands on any child or he get sacked. The school Principal (Mr. Makundu) apologized for over 30 minutes to the couple. The teacher also did apologize but the parents chose to take laws into their hands. We will need to talk further legal actions to ensure that this doesn’t become a norm with parents in our schools. If a parent doesn’t want their child to be disciplined, they should do home schooling.”
Watch video:
