‘Our son didn’t die because of punishment at school’

A student the Government Day Secondary School, Sankalawa in Bungudu Local Government Area of Zamfara died because he had been sick, not as a result of beating by his teacher, the deceased’s family told Daily Trust yesterday.

The deceased, Identified as Rayyan Ahmad, who was an SS 2 student of the school, was earlier reported to have been flogged to death by his teacher.

However checks by Daily Trust at the school revealed that late Rayyan received two lashes by the teacher for not attending the school for a day.

The classmate of the deceased, who is also the captain of the class identified as Sulaiman Dahiru, told Daily Trust that “We were flogged together with two lashes each inside the class. Each one of us was to receive five lashes but after late Rayyan gave sickness as reason for absence of from the school the teacher decided to flog him with two lashes. It was done inside the class to the full glare of every one,” Dahiru said.

At Sabon Gida village, where the deceased hailed from, Mallam Musa, the father of late Rayyan, said they decided to leave the matter because the deceased had been sick for some days and therefore they could not link his death to the punishment he received at the school.

The elder brother of the deceased, Anas Ahmad, said they went to school together with late Rayyan and they were punished together over truancy. He died a day after we received the punishment. “I’m his brother, born of the same father; while I’m in SS 2A he was in SS 2B,” Anas said.

When contacted, the principal of the school said he would not talk to the press until he was authorized to do so. The suspected teacher was also not available when our reporter visited.