Child Psychologist, ThankGod Ocheho, discussed how abusive environments affect children’s learning, suggesting that children sometimes dislike going to school because they associate the school system with pain, which leads to their avoidance of the school.
“The classroom is supposed to be a place where children learn with joy and excitement, not pain…when a teacher is always inflicting pain on a child, learning is impeded and they are not making progress, not because they don’t have the potential to do so but because of the kind of environment that has been created for them,” Ocheho explained.
Speaking in a recent interview on ARISE NEWS, child psychologist ThankGod Ocheho and Titilayo Vivour-Adeniyi, Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA), shared their insights on child discipline and the importance of ensuring safe environments for children in both homes and schools.
Ocheho, a child psychologist, focused on the psychological implications of teacher-student relationships and the importance of teacher training. He expressed concern that many teachers are not adequately trained to understand the impact of trauma and the difference between discipline and abuse.
“Most schools tend to focus on subject expertise when they are trying to recruit teachers into the school system. Nobody takes assessment in terms of their psychological makeup to really know if they understand the implications or the psychological impact of child abuse,” he said.
On the topic of gentle parenting, Ocheho emphasised the need for a contextual understanding of discipline. He warned against copying parenting methods from other cultures without considering the local context.
“When you are disciplining a child, it’s because you want a change in behaviour in the long term. Gentle parenting is different from allowing a child to do anything the child wants,” he explained.
He added that the foundation of discipline should be love, highlighting the importance of setting rules while ensuring that consequences do not cause harm to the child.
Meanwhile, Vivour-Adeniyi addressed the controversial “spare the rod and spoil the child” principle, explaining the critical distinction between discipline and abuse. She referred to Section 201 of the Lagos State Criminal Law, which makes provisions for correcting children but cautioned against inflicting harm.
“There is a fine line between disciplining a child and abusing a child. We are not saying children should not be corrected… but it must not be such that grievous harm is inflicted in the child,” she stated.
She also emphasised that any corrective action should be age-appropriate and should help the child understand the reason for the correction.
With reference to a recent case in school at Ikorodu, Lagos state, where a teacher was caught on video abusing a student. Vivour-Adeniyi outlined the DSVA’s response, which involved a team effort from the Lagos State Safeguarding and Child Protection Task Force, including representatives from various ministries and the police.
“In this particular situation, officers are already on their way to the school… The suspect has been removed from that environment,” she said. The task force’s role is to ensure that the structures within the school are examined to prevent future incidents. She added that the agency’s approach also includes training institutions to build capacity and avoid recurrence.
Vivour-Adeniyi also highlighted the importance of parents conducting due diligence when selecting schools, particularly when it comes to ensuring schools are properly registered.
“The data shows that a majority of schools where we get incidents of child protection concerns are unregistered schools,” she said, stressing that registration ensures schools are subject to the state’s training programs and educational resources.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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