A viral video depicting students from Oyemekun Grammar School, Aquinas Secondary School, and CAC Grammar School in Ondo State celebrating the end of their West African Senior School Certificate Examination has sparked widespread condemnation. The footage showed students inscribing on uniforms and engaging in public displays of affection deemed inappropriate. This incident, rather than being a moment of outrage, should serve as a call for reflection on how children are raised, guided, and supported.
Root Causes of Behavioral Issues
Incidents like this point to deeper questions about upbringing, supervision, and the environment in which children are formed. Many behavioral patterns are shaped before adolescence, with core values, discipline, and emotional boundaries taking root in early childhood. This places a profound responsibility on parents and guardians to be intentional during formative years. The home remains the first school, where children learn from what is taught directly and what is observed.
Increasing access to smartphones and unrestricted social media use has complicated this further. Adult content is only a few clicks away, and many parents may not fully appreciate the extent of exposure within the home. Social media platforms often reward attention-seeking behavior, and impressionable young people can mistake online validation for acceptable conduct.
Role of Parents and Society
While responsibility is shared across many fronts, parents remain central. The home is where values are reinforced or eroded. Where dishonesty is normalized, indecent behavior excused, or shortcuts encouraged, children absorb these lessons long before formal instruction in school. In some homes, domestic staff become primary caregivers without proper oversight, exposing children to neglect or harmful influences.
Schools are under increasing pressure from overcrowded classrooms, limited resources, and inadequate learning environments. Overburdened teachers cannot always deliver the attention and guidance required. Some individuals in teaching roles lack adequate training or motivation, affecting outcomes.
Government and Systemic Responses
Government has a critical role in strengthening the education system through investment in teacher welfare, training, infrastructure, and learning resources. Schools require functioning counselling units, safe environments, and structured discipline systems focused on character development. Following the Ondo incident, an emergency meeting at the Ministry of Education headquarters in Akure announced disciplinary measures, including withholding testimonials and exam results for identified students, creating misconduct records, and issuing queries to principals. Students not in terminal classes could face expulsion.
Discipline must be balanced with rehabilitation. A purely punitive approach risks pushing young people further from correction. A more constructive response combines accountability with structured support, such as mandatory counselling sessions and community service that reinforces humility and civic responsibility. Such engagement allows students to understand consequences while preserving future opportunities.
Need for Counselling and Education Reform
Beyond disciplinary responses, there is a broader need to strengthen trained counsellors in schools. Many institutions lack adequate psychosocial support systems, leaving adolescents without guidance during critical developmental stages. Counsellors help young people navigate peer pressure, identity formation, and emotional challenges.
Any corrective process involving minors must comply with child protection principles. Exposure in public spaces, particularly through images or recordings, must be handled with strict caution. Consent and protection are legal and moral obligations.
Building a Responsible Generation
Equally important is including age-appropriate education on discipline, relationships, and sexuality within school curricula. This equips young people with knowledge, reduces vulnerability to exploitation, and helps them make informed decisions. The goal is not only to correct behavior but to build a generation that understands responsibility, respect, and self-worth. This requires consistency between home, school, and society. When any of these pillars weaken, the burden on the others increases.
The events in Ondo State should serve less as a moment of outrage and more as a call for reflection on how children are raised, guided, and supported. The future depends not only on what is taught in classrooms but also on what is modelled at home and reinforced by society.
Bukoladeremi Ladigbolu, a Lagos-based relationship coach and youth mentor, is founder and executive director of Family and Youth Support Initiative.
