Ondo rehabilitates students over indecent post-WASSCE celebration
By Boye Oyeyemi
The Ondo State Government has completed the rehabilitation of students of Oyemekun Grammar School and Aquinas College, Akure, who were sanctioned over indecent celebrations after their West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
The students were enrolled in a four-week rehabilitation programme during the long vacation after a viral video showed them tearing their school uniforms, chanting inappropriate slogans and engaging in other unruly activities on the streets.
The programme was organised by the state Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in partnership with the Nigerian Correctional Service, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and Ondo State Neuro-Psychiatric Specialist Hospital.
The Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Igbekele Ajibefun, said the intervention was aimed at correcting the students’ behaviour, promoting discipline and helping them understand the consequences of actions that could threaten public safety.
Ajibefun said the government chose counselling and rehabilitation instead of measures that could permanently affect the students’ future, adding that their names had been removed from the Black Book and their withheld WASSCE certificates would be released.
He urged the students to maintain the positive behavioural changes recorded during the programme, stressing that their conduct reflected not only on their families but also on the state and country.
Meanwhile, the ministry’s Director of Guidance and Counselling, Continuous Assessment and Evaluation, Olufunke Ademuyiwa, said the programme included psycho-education, individual and group counselling, behavioural reflection and anger management.
She added that the students visited the neuro-psychiatric hospital and correctional centre in Akure for educational tours and professional counselling, while the NDLEA and Correctional Service encouraged them to make responsible choices and avoid activities that could expose them to criminality.
