Lekan Adeniran, the Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Dapo Abiodun, disclosed in a statement that the delegation was the second one since the incident occurred.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Arijo, a student of Obada Grammar School at Idi-emi in the Imeko Afon local government area of the state, died on Friday.
This was after being allegedly subjected to corporal punishment by a teacher at the school.
Adeniran also said the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Abeokuta was already conducting a post-mortem on the deceased to determine the cause of his death.
“The delegation, led by the state’s Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, was the second government team to pay a condolence visit to the family,” he stated.
The governor’s spokesman also said Arigbabu, after visiting the family of the deceased, sounded a note of warning to teachers in state-owned primary and secondary schools.
He said the Commissioner warned teachers to desist from administering corporal punishment on pupils.
Arigbabu was quoted as disclosing that the state government has set up a committee to look into the root cause and all other circumstances surrounding what happened.
“When anything occurs, the most important thing is for us to learn from a particular situation, not only about Obada Grammar School.
“I have said this in the past. We usually have what we call stakeholders’ meetings before the beginning of every session, where I always reiterate the need to say ‘no’ to corporal punishment,” Adeniran quoted Arigbabu as saying.
According to him, Arigbabu also assured parents that the state government would continue to monitor and hand out sanctions to teachers found culpable of administering corporal punishment to their students.
“The Commissioner, while urging teachers to always endeavour to follow the rules of the game, also said they should continue to display a high level of maturity and professionalism.
“He said there were other ways of disciplining students, rather than using corporal punishment,” Adeniran said.
He added that Prof. Arigbabu assured parents that their children would be given the best training and education in schools under a very conducive atmosphere.
Adeniran quoted the Commissioner as disclosing that the state government has handed out suspensions to the teachers and principals involved.
He also quoted Abdullateef Oduntan, who spoke on behalf of the family of Arijo, as saying the family was not interested in a legal battle with the state government.
“Oduntan however urged the government to do all within its power to ensure that such an incident does not happen again anywhere in the state,” Adeniran stated.
