Motorcyclist lures Primary six pupil with cake to have sex with her

A primary six pupil, Princess, has been allegedly raped by a 40-year-old commercial motorcyclist (okada rider) in a hotel on Yemi Aderemi Street, Igbede, in the Ajangbadi area of Lagos.
The name of the hotel was given as Julia Guest House.

PUNCH Metro reports that the okada rider, Uche Imo, was arrested by the police from the Isokoko division, while the manager of the hotel, who was accused of aiding the act, was invited for interrogation.

It was gathered that Imo and the pupil were neighbours on Tijani Street, Ajangbadi, and he was employed by Princess’ mother to take her and her sister to school.

Imo, a father of five, was said to have lured the 13-year-old girl with cake into the hotel. He had
reportedly raped her in the facility four different times.

In one of the instances, Princess declined going inside the hotel room with the suspect, but the manager, William, reportedly persuaded her.

The mother of the pupil said she knew about the ‘sexual relationship’ between her daughter and Imo on February 14, 2016, after he brought Princess and her sister back from an outing on that day.

She said:

     “Baba Joy (Imo) was my neighbour and was the one taking my children to school. I paid him N200 every day. On February 14, he came to me and said he wanted to take them out and I allowed him. He bought meat pie and ice cream for them. When they came back, Helen said I should ask her sister what happened between her and Baba Joy.

    “I asked her, but she denied that anything happened between them. It was when I started beating her that she confessed that Baba Joy had sex with her, adding that it had been happening for long.”

Princess told the police that the Abia State-born suspect had been raping her since December 2015, adding that he usually gave her cake.

She said:

     “I am in primary six and live on the same street with Baba Joy. In December 2015, he took me to the hotel and had sex with me. I did not want to enter, but the hotel manager said I should. He had taken me there four times and he usually bought cake for me.”

Punch adds that Princess was taken to the Mirabel Centre, a human rights organisation, at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and the case was subsequently reported to the police.

The suspect, in his statement to the police, confessed to the crime, saying the hotel manager was aware of it.

    “I am married with five children. My first child is in Senior Secondary School two. I lived at the back of Princess’ house before I parked out in January. I told her I liked her. Whenever she had a chance, she would call me from a business centre and I would pick her up where she was, take her to the hotel and have sex with her.

    “There was a day I took her to the hotel and she did not want to enter. The manager pleaded with her on my behalf. I paid N500 for an hour,” he said.

The 55-year-old manager, who admitted that Imo was his customer, said he had warned him to stop bringing the minor to the hotel.

 A police prosecutor, Sergeant Francisca Okere, brought Imo before an Apapa Magistrate’s Court on two counts bordering on rape.

The charges read in part:

 “That you, Uche Imo, on January 25, 2016, at about 5pm on Yemi Aderemi Street, Igbede, in the Ajangbadi, Lagos State, in the Apapa Magisterial District, did defile a 13-year-old girl, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 317 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.”

The defendant pleaded not guilty before the presiding magistrate, Mrs. A.O. Adegbite, and was granted bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum.

The case was adjourned till April 21, 2016.

Teachers Helping Teachers Tuesday: Increasing student engagement

Teachers need to recognize the fact that if their students are not engaged and fully participating in the learning process then it is highly unlikely that they will comprehend what is being taught and demonstrate mastery of the learning objectives for the lesson.
Engaging every student has been a perennial challenge for educators. However, research in this area has revealed much about how teachers can design learning experiences that interest students and maintain their engagement.
This substantive engagement in the learning process drives them to become invested in evaluating and reflecting upon their academic growth.  Students need to be engaged in rigorous assignments and mentally committed to their assignments.

Lessons must move beyond rote learning and superficial understanding to the development of higher order thinking skills and application of knowledge to new and novel situations.

Here are 10 Ways to Increase Student Engagement:
1. Create an emotionally safe classroom
Emotionally safe classroom settings encourage respectful interactions where children feel they can express themselves without fear.  Failure is a normal part of the learning curve and does not mean that a child who experiences it is actually a failure.  Children who feel that they are in an emotionally safe classroom feel free to explore, debate, problem-solve and practice. It allows them to easily harness higher-order thinking skills.

2. Create an intellectually safe classroom
Begin each class with an activity that 95% of the class can complete on their own. Activities like this gets the lesson started with everyone on board; feeling confident and ready to participate.


3. Cultivate appropriate intermediate steps
When it comes to project-based learning, building in appropriate intermediate steps can help manage the process with the extra guidance students may need. As opposed to assigning the project with a week’s deadline and cutting the students lose from there, a teacher may decide to create a few steps to do together so that everyone is on board. For example, interviewing an adult may seem intimidating at first, but if the brainstorming and other critical pieces are researched and outlined together as steps, it can make tackling this project a lot more manageable and enjoyable for the students.

4. Practice journal or blog writing to communicate with students
Using the last five minutes of class time to reflect, review, and summarize can prove to be incredibly helpful in reaffirming what students have already learned and also provides an opportunity to get some additional clarity on the points where they are still struggling. Encourage students to reflect on the day’s lesson via their journal or blog.  You may also choose to respond to journals with comments to continue the conversation and encourage those reflections.


5. Create a culture of explanation instead of a culture of the right answer
Create a challenge that can be solved in three different ways and encourage students to find all three solutions. This practice helps engage students to think critically and thoughtfully observe different approaches to arrive at solutions. Helping them to practice seeing solutions from different viewpoints cultivates creativity, awareness, and tolerance.

6. Teach self-awareness about knowledge
Encourage students to honestly self-reflect about their understanding before moving onto the next lesson.  For example, try creating a formative assessment for each lesson with 3-5 questions to gauge student understanding. The questions can reflect what was taught and also incorporate another component: how the student is feeling about their grasp on the concept.  Encourage each student to rate their understanding from 1-3.  By helping students to take greater responsibility for their understanding, they will be more apt to take initiative as soon as they feel they need more clarification on the concept.

7. Use questioning strategies that make all students think and answer
In most classrooms when a question is asked, the same reliable hands will raise each time.  This issue leads to inattention in the classroom.  Another method to everyone participating is to ask a question and have all students give an answer at the same time.  One method could be done by coming up with “finger signals”: one finger for ‘yes,’ two fingers for ‘no’ and three fingers for ‘unsure.’  By gauging students frequently using this method, you will have everyone participating in their learning processes.

8. Practice using the design process to increase the quality of work
Many professionals like engineers and artists use the design process to continually refine their work and arrive at their final masterpiece. They often start with a sketch or rough draft and submit it for feedback and continuously refine their ideas based on constructive criticism. By encouraging this process to be used by your students, the quality of their work can improve a lot more than being graded on the initial effort.

9. Market your projects
Making sure students understand exactly why they are participating in a learning activity or engaging in a specific concept is crucial to building trust in their learning environment. Engaging in authentic tasks that help students grow in their lives, relationships increases participation and ownership of the learning process.

10. Give specific feedback often
Giving specific feedback is supportive and helpful in the student’s learning process. Providing specific feedback grounded with evidence enables students to make informed decisions on how to refine their work. They also get a clear understanding of where they stand with their teacher, fostering confidence and safety in their learning environment.


Source: Interactive achievement

DashPlace at 08:02am

Meet Mandy Moore, the toddler who eats everything except food!

A three year old toddler, Mandy Moore, is suffering from a rare condition called Pica, that makes her crave everything from the carpets to paint to washing powder, to bugs, stones, plastic and anything else but normal food.
Pica, a rare impulsive disorder meaning she has cravings to eat non-food.
It can be potentially life-threatening, with risks ranging from vomiting, constipation and infections to blockages in the gut and intestines, choking and poisoning. In some cases surgery may be needed to remove objects from an individual’s gut or to repair tissue injuries. Her mum, 26 year old Catherine Mullins had to quit her job to keep a constant eye on Maddie to make sure she doesn’t choke or eat something that could damage her insides. Her partner, who is 29 years old also quit his job so they could both watch her.

She said: “If she could, she would eat everything. I’m always worried about what she’ll try to eat next. Everything goes to her mouth.
“Sometimes, I have to put my fingers in her mouth and hook the food out to stop her choking.
“You literally can’t take your eyes off her for a minute so our house never shuts down.”

 She noticed Maddie started putting strange objects in her mouth just before she turned one, when she began crawling.Maddie’s behaviour prompted tests and assessments at her two-year health check and she was diagnosed with Pica in September last year. She also suffers from autism, developmental delay and sensory process disorder, which causes her to bounce, spin and climb at any opportunity. The family live in Bournemouth, Dorset.
At night she has to be zipped into a specialist bed to stop her harming herself while her parents and four-year-old sister Lilly sleep.

According to the mum, as she gets older, her interest in normal food has drastically reduced and she only eats foods of a particular colour and texture - like potato waffles, fish fingers and chicken burgers.
Catherine said:
“It started with her picking up and eating small items of fluff and paper, any bits she could find from the floor.
“Then her cravings became more and more intense. We can’t have anything on the walls like displays or paintings because she’ll eat them.
“Lilly can’t do any drawing or crafts because Maddie will eat the pencils and paints.
“I literally have to hide anything dangerous. We have child locks but she’s very clever and susses them out.
“Yesterday she ate a whole pack of chalks when I wasn’t looking, but her favourites are Play-Doh, sand and dirt.”
“I can’t go anywhere with her - not even to a cafe or the supermarket," said Catherine.

“Our flat is so small, there isn’t space to even use the sensory equipment we have been funded which would really help Maddie.
“It’s hard because due to her condition she can’t go outside much either. She needs to be safe because of her complex needs so to have somewhere where she could have the space to play and Lilly could rest too, would be a dream come true.
“Nothing in our life is normal, every aspect is affected and it’s very tough on Lilly too.
“Every day is a struggle but she’s worth it. Maddie is such a character.
“I feel really lucky because she is so quirky and different. I love her so much.”


Source: UK Mirror

Unity School Cooks arrested over ritual scare

For allegedly caught picking the used sanitary pads of students from waste bins allegedly for ritual purposes, three cooks who are employees of the Federal Government Girls’ College, Akure, have been arrested by men of the Ondo State Police Command.

The suspects, whose names were not released, were alleged to have taken the used pads of girls residing in the school to unknown places outside the school premises.
It was gathered that some students, who caught two of the cooks perpetrating the act, reported the matter to their teachers, who in turn alerted the principal, Mrs Florence Ejikeme.

A source said the principal, on hearing the matter, ordered for the immediate suspension of the three and began investigation on the matter.
Not pleased with the handling of the matter by the school authority, the students attempted to stage a protest but were stopped due to the intervention of the chairman of the Parents Teachers Association, Mr. Akin Ashimolowo.

However, the students were said to have reported the matter to their parents during their visiting day on a Saturday.
A parent, who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the suspects had confessed to the crime at the police station .
She alleged that one of the suspects is a wife of a prominent politician in the state and may want to use their ‘connections’ to sweep the matter under the carpets , adding that her child told her that it was not the first time such a thing would be happening in the school and nothing was being done.

Student left with bruises for misspelling in dictation class

An elementary pupil in northern Vietnam was left with bruises on her face and eyes after being hit by her teacher for misspelling in dictation class last Friday April 1st.

Hoang Trong Phu, deputy head of the Bureau of Education and Training in Bat Xat District, Lao Cai Province, confirmed that the incident took place at Phin Ngan Elementary School on Friday, when T., a first grader, misspelled a word in the dictation lesson taught by Tran Thi Thu Tra.
According to the teacher’s report, after seeing T. writing too slowly and making a mistake, Tra used a ruler to strike the student’s face. After being hit, T. displayed no changes to her facial appearance and continued studying, Tra said in the report.
Chao Ke May, T.’s mother, said that she saw two of T.’s friends help her daughter come home from school.

"My kid’s face was swelling and there were bruises near her eyes," May recounted, adding that T. was very upset at the time.

As household aid yielded no positive result, T.’s family said that she was transferred to the Bat Xat general hospital for medical treatment with bruises around her eyes and the surrounding facial area.

The girl recovered but she has to stay in the infirmary for further treatment, doctors said.
Tra said that she offered an apology and medical payment as compensation to the family.

The teacher is currently suspended from teaching and strict sanctions are currently being discussed, said the district’s education bureau.

"Strict measures must be enacted to purge school violence," leaders of Bat Xat District’s Bureau of Education and Training insisted.

Source: News Vietnam


DashPlace at 13:50pm

Sad! Pupil Dies After Slap From Principal's Secretary

Photo credit: Punch Nigeria

Miss Iyanuoluwa Dahunsi’s family are yet to come to terms with the shock of her death nine months after she was ‘mistakenly’ hit on the eye by the Secretary to her school’s Principal, Mrs. Funke Fashina.

A family friend of the deceased’s family who preferred to remain anonymous narrated what happened on the day of the incident.
In her words,“We learnt that on that day (January 2015), a teacher entered her classroom and ordered those who were not taking the subject to leave. She was leaving with some of her friends when the school principal’s secretary, Mrs. Fashina, met them along the corridor.
“Instead of asking the pupils questions about their mission outside the classroom, she began to beat them one by one. In the process, her hand hit Dahunsi’s eye. She did not take it seriously but she told her aunt (Orindare-Ajayi), who she was living with at the time when she got home. Her aunt told her that she must have done something wrong which warranted the discipline.

“However, she bought eye drop and applied it to the affected eye. There was mid-term break at the time but before the school resumed again, the eye had gone worse. 

The mother visited the school to demand for what Fashina used to slap her daughter. There was an argument over the issue but when her father also visited the school, it was resolved that a test be carried out at an optical laboratory in Eleta area of Ibadan.”
He said the result showed there was a fracture around the eye, which also resulted in clotting of blood around the affected area. He noted that the principal and Fashina rejected the result because it implicated the woman who had slapped Dahunsi.

The family friend added, “They said they had someone at the University College Hospital and demanded that another test be carried out at the UCH. According to the new scan result, a tumour was detected and that it was not as a result of the slapping. The consultant said the sum of N300,000 was needed to do a surgery. The result was in the custody of the principal and Fashina.
“The parents agreed that the surgery be done, but the necessary document needed by the hospital was not released by the principal and the secretary. The police had to be involved before the document was released three days after. By then, the girl had suffered so much.”

The surgery was later carried out after the Chief Medical Director of UCH, Prof. Temitope Alonge, was notified by Dahunsi’s aunt but it only got worse.
An aunt to the late pupil, Mrs. Yetunde Orindare-Ajayi, recalled, “A few days before Dahunsi’s death, she was referred to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, but she died on the day we were to travel there. She died in my hands at the hospital”.

Until her death, Iyanuoluwa suffered from a swollen head, inability to walk and was also using adult diapers.
Six months later, and five days after her fifteenth birthday, Dahunsi succumbed to the cold hands of death on July 22, 2015 at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. She was however buried quite late on February 12, 2016 due to accumulated hospital bills estimated at N1m.

May her soul, rest in peace.


DashPlace at 11:43am

Wonders! Sixteen year old boy brutally raped in School

A 16-year-old boy was allegedly brutally raped inside Atlanta's B.E.S.T. Academy, according to a report by Fox 5, Atlanta. The B.E.S.T. Academy is a school for gifted young men in Atlanta, Georgia.

According to the 16-year-old victim's parents, who spoke to the media, their son was raped by another male student during the school day. The boy's mum told reporters that that her son was using the bathroom when he was "ambushed" by a predator.


"The child burst into the stall and asked him to perform oral sex on him. My son told him ‘No, I am not gay’ and he was not going to do that. The child then proceeded to hit him in his face, nose and choke him. Then he entered my son and told my son if you tell anyone, I will kill you," the child’s mother said as she sobbed.

"I send him to school to learn and be safe. You expect him to be safe because it is a school. You don't expect nothing like that to happen in the school. Where was security?" the boy's father asked.

Atlanta Police have confirmed the rape occurred but so far no arrests have been made.


DashPlace at 16:32

Four Steps to Secure your Child's Education

It is better to be safe than sorry. Securing the future of a child's education is as important as insuring lives and properties.

According to Edusko, an education marketing company, children's education should be secure regardless of what happens.

The truth they say could be stranger than fiction - it is undoubtedly non-fiction that most parents wish to provide their children with the best possible start in life on the road to a successful career. Biodun’s parents were no exception.

Biodun was a promising brilliant kid born with a silver spoon in his mouth. At age 3, Biodun could recite the 26-lettered alphabet flawlessly. He had started learning pronunciation from age 4 and could fluently read a 100-paged book within one week at age 6. His brilliance as confirmed by his busy parents was linked to the contributions from one of the leading schools and extra classes Biodun attended from crèche to Primary school. His father, who was a senior manager in a leading bank could afford any good school around the world for him. His young mother, Shalewa was running a small boutique that would break even over a 10-year period all things being equal.

Things were absolutely going well for Biodun’s family until his 8th birthday. Biodun’s father lost his job and the family had to depend on Shalewa’s boutique. Things got so worse that Biodun would soon stop schooling.
Biodun’s abrupt stop in his academic pursuit wasn’t as a result of his parents’ circumstances but absolutely was as a result of their inability to plan for his education even before he was born. With a sound financial plan, education expenses do not have to be such a daunting affair.

Please read below 4 simple ways to finance your child’s education even while you’re broke:
1. Start Saving: There’s no better way to financially prepare for our children’s education than saving for it. But at what point should caring parents start saving for their children’s education? According to HSBC, It would be best to start saving for your child's education as soon as possible, for the earlier you start to plan for your children's education, the longer you'll have to build a pot of funds to cover all the costs.  Early start also gives you the greatest possible flexibility in fulfilling your children's needs, while a late start may result in either having to put aside a higher monthly contribution, or worse, not having sufficient funds to provide the education that you want for your children.

2. Have a Budget: It is important that you don’t bite more than you can chew as parents. Know your financial strength and never try to impress neighbours with your child’s school. I’ve seen many parents who incurred huge debts because they wanted their children to attend schools that their neighbours’ children attended. How can you prepare a simple budget for your child’s education? Write down all your monthly income and expenses such as mortgage, household maintenance, utility bills etc. viz-a-viz how much you can set aside for your children’s education. In your budgeting, bear in mind that the cost of children’s education is beyond tuition fees. Tuition is only a third of the total annual cost for your child’s education. In addition to tuition, add the costs of books, uniforms, extra-curricular activities and other expenses such as travel expenses during break if your child has picked a foreign education. When estimating the cost of your child's education most especially for tertiary education, also consider how much the living expenses might be.

3. Take advantage of Scholarship, Bursary and Grant: If your child is a brilliant kid like Biodun earlier mentioned, there’s a possibility for such child to enjoy scholarship, bursary or grant for his education.  Many schools offer scholarships for academic, sports, musical or all-round excellence. Scholarships range in value but rarely cover all the fees. Some schools and governments also have bursaries and grants to help parents pay their fees. In some countries, these are often awarded to families with lower income.

4. Learn to prioritise: A number of parents often time fail to prioritise when it comes to funding their children’s education. You should learn and know what’s paramount in your child’s education and avoid spending on luxuries when you cannot afford them. For example, you might need to cut down how much you spend on holiday trips, children’s amusement parks or unnecessary wears etc.
With education costs skyrocketing, it is imperative that parents who do not want to gamble with their children’s education put up a good financial plan.
We’ve also observed that many parents in the third world aren’t aware of different education financing options and opportunities offered by financial institutions. We strongly advise parents to consult their financial institutions for various education financing options available.
Your children's education should be secure regardless of what happens. Take that bold step now!


Source: Edusko