Chrisland Schools and the need for restraint

BY UJU NWOYE

First, let me start this commentary by stating it very clearly that losing a child is one of the worst things – if actually not the worst thing – that could happen to a parent. It is not something anyone should take lightly, as it is a mind-bending sort of distress, the pain of which is barely imaginable. Whenever this happens, in the intervening period, emotions tend to run high, which is quite understandable. 

As a parent myself, I would never wish such unfortunate circumstances on anyone. But now that it has recently happened, one can only plead for calm, in order for clarity to reign, such that the issues involved can be critically examined with the level of clear head required to appraise the role of all the stakeholders involved in the ill-fated incident. This would go a long way in forestalling the possibility of such happening again, or reducing the incidence. 

Some have pointed out that unfortunate deaths have always been all around us, but the capacity for the news to be exacerbated in a manner that can cause social havoc and deepen pain, while the lessons involved are lost in the process, is what this new information age or the age of social media has done to us as a people. 

What this means is that while those at loss and mourning are not allowed the peace to grieve quietly, the hysteria attendant the consideration of the issue in social media at times adds fuel to the fire that burns up an issue that needs to be contemplated with all the sobriety involved. Social media ‘punditry’ itself is a source of concern these days, as it ranges from the factual which could be laced with a bit more drama than necessary, to the highly ill-informed, and then the very emotional. These all worry me when we are dealing with an incident involving the loss of life.

Like most people, I came across the recent passing of 12-year-old Whitney Adeniran, a student of Chrisland International Schools, Opebi, on social media. She is reported to have collapsed and subsequently passed on during a sporting event held by her school at Agege Stadium on Thursday 9th of February. Encountering the heart-rending agony in her father’s lamentation on social media was one of the most difficult experiences for me in the past several months. 

My first thoughts on going through the complaint were to find out if there was any level of first aid for the young lady immediately after she collapsed. As I am usually wont to do in this age in which information on any incident can be multiple, and contesting, I try to find balance by looking for all the necessary information from all the relevant sources and stakeholders involved, alongside a few objective others.

While the parents of the deceased, Whitney Adeniran, claim that Chrisland Schools had not put in place any form of first aid or response to deal with emergencies that could arise during such physical activity, however, the school said that it actually did its best in the circumstance that it found itself last Thursday. It said they had quickly sought medical intervention at the nearest facility – which was the government’s medical centre in Agege – immediately after Whitney collapsed. And that what happened was really unfortunate, despite its best efforts.

More so, the affected student is said to have also had medical challenges in the past week, which had made the school call the attention of her parents to these, and they had then come to pick her up from school for medical attention. 

In the back-and-forth that happens in moments of distress like this, what gets lost in translation at times is the true situation of things. Yet, what appears incontrovertible is the fact that at the stadium, Whitney had an episode that led to her collapse, and she was then swiftly taken for medical attention at the closest health facility at hand. Whether this was the possible care at that point in time is another issue, but then at moments of emergency, those in danger are usually availed of the first place of care that is available. If that is then inadequate to effectively discharge the role of a first responder, it points to the larger issue of state failure that we are all afflicted with. The state fails us every single day, and this appears as yet another such manifestation.

Still, could Whitney have truly also had a subsisting medical condition, as Chrisland Schools have alluded to? A challenge that was just awaiting a trigger, like physical activity, to manifest? I read an account saying that Whitney had slumped, backing the stadium railing. As mentioned above, Chrisland Schools is also said to have it on record that Whitney was ill as recently as the 20th of January, with her father being contacted to come and take her for medical attention. Some even say that since she was a day student, and not in the boarding house, Chrisland Schools might not be in the full picture of her medical history and issues, necessitating her closer monitoring.

Or could what happened to her have occurred spontaneously, as many examples abound? Slumping and dying have become a worrisome phenomenon around the world. I can easily recall a few examples, from the Nigerian ex-international footballer, Sam Okwaraji, who died of congestive heart failure on the field of play on the 12th of August, 1989, to the 52-year-old Deji Tinubu who slumped during a match on the 26th of January, 2018. What about Giuseppe Sinopoli, who died of a heart attack while conducting Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2001? Also, closer to this time, there is the 20-year-old Hadi Ado Bala who slumped and died during his team’s match against Sporting Cabanillas at Nuevo Campo on Sunday, 5th of February. 

While one might be quick to want to blame Chrisland Schools for this incident, with another strain of narrative claiming that the school had tried to suppress information about the incident, and also pressured Whitney’s father against allowing for an autopsy to confirm the true cause of death, I was surprised to read from the spokesperson of the state police, Ben Hundeyin, that Chrisland Schools had actually reported the sad occurrence to the police and relevant authorities as it happened. And the school had proposed the need for an autopsy to clear the air about what the cause of death could be. One then wonders why, as some have noted, Whitney’s father was quick to buy a coffin and had wanted to bury his daughter without an autopsy, before other levels of intervention persuaded him otherwise.

As this remains a very painful incident that traumatises me as a parent, I am minded that as emotions run high, indicating how upset many are by the highly unfortunate death of the deceased, we should all be a little bit more circumspect in casting blames, which could lead to what could be a misplaced public lynching of Chrisland Schools. I am more persuaded that the true cause of the death should be sought out through rigorous scientific and medical means, which could then curtail all the various speculations and innuendoes going around about the incident. Then we can move to the stage of erecting controls – both at the home and the school – to forestall such from happening, going into the future, if this is not just another natural occurrence that’s simply beyond our control. 

I am hesitant to cast blame as it is highly inconceivable that there could have been deliberate negligence on the part of the parents or even Chrisland Schools, considering all that it has gone through in the past and the very intentional culture of carefulness I heard that it has cultivated. This might just be a freak incident that broke through the best of intentions.

Now that the Lagos state government has closed the Chrisland Schools in Opebi, Lagos down, as it tries to get to the bottom of this very saddening occurrence, my heart goes out, first of all, to the Adeniran family, and I pray that the Almighty gives them succour in this very difficult hour. Then, I sympathise with all the other pupils whose education has been stalled as the government intervenes in this issue and other people – teachers, non-academic workers, etc. – who depend on Chrislands for their livelihoods. May we all find the grace to survive this gloom. 

Uju Nwoye, a child psychologist, writes from Abuja.