A Rivers mother has accused her two-year-old son’s school of shaving part of his hair and causing minor injuries, sparking outrage online as she demands accountability and an investigation.
A woman in Rivers State, Jennifer Atuegbu, has sparked widespread reactions on social media after accusing her two-year-old son’s school of shaving part of his hair without her consent.
She did not provide the name of the school.
Ms Atuegbu, who first raised the alarm in a video on Facebook on Wednesday, said she discovered the unusual haircut when she arrived to pick up her son from school.
She did not, however, disclose the name of the school.
Although she later deleted the initial video, she replaced it with a written post and subsequently released a lengthy video narrating the events that led to the controversy.
“Nigerians please come to my aid,” she wrote.
“I went to pick my son from school and discovered that his hair was shaved and it gave him a little wound. My Son is two years old and can’t express himself properly.
“The school is trying to sweep this away. They are not taking the situation seriously. They are not taking responsibility.
“They are protecting the teacher and minder. Where is my son’s hair? Who did this to my son?”
.. was accompanied by a photograph showing a portion of the back of the child’s head that appeared shaved.
In a video posted on Friday, Ms Atuegbu said the incident occurred on Wednesday when she arrived at the school around 3 p.m. to pick up her son.
“My name is Jennifer. I am the mother of a two-year-old whose hair was shaved in school,” she said.
“Everything happened on Wednesday. I went to pick my son up on a regular day around 3 p.m. When I arrived the teacher brought him out for me. He immediately ran and hugged me and I noticed a shave at the back of his head.”
According to her, when she questioned the child’s teacher, the teacher appeared surprised and denied knowing anything about the partial haircut.
“The teacher was acting surprised, telling me she doesn’t know. Someone that is supposed to take care of my son,” she said.
She added that the teacher subsequently questioned the child’s minder, who also denied knowledge of the incident.
“I went to the administrator, and reported. She was so surprised and speechless. She called the minder and the teacher, asking what happened but both said nothing.”
Beyond the missing hair, Ms Atuegbu alleged that she noticed an injury on one of the child’s fingers.
“Besides the hair, I noticed they cut his left fingers. I asked the teacher but she said she’s not aware that they don’t cut nails in school.”
She said she repeatedly sought explanations from the school management but received none.
“I was dumbfounded, looking at people that were supposed to explain to me. I was asking, who took my son’s hair and what are they using it for,” she said.
The mother said she initially refrained from involving law enforcement officials because of her existing relationship with the school.
“I didn’t want to fly to the police station because these are the people I’ve been dealing with,” she explained.
Ms Atuegbu said she returned to the school on Thursday with a relative to demand answers.
According to her, the administrator promised to investigate the matter but did not immediately provide an explanation.
“You people are not being accountable. Who took my son’s hair?” she recalled asking the administrator.
“She was beating around the bush, saying ‘this is absurd.’”
The administrator eventually told her: “Ma’am you have to go, we’ll investigate the matter and get back at you.”
Frustrated by the response, Ms Atuegbu said she made another video outside the school premises.
