16th September, 2015
Cyriacus Izuekwe
The management of a Catholic school in Ejigbo, Lagos State, western Nigeria, where a staff alleged that she was sacked and paid N2,500 as severance package, has denied the claim and said the staff was paid N10,000 as her full benefit.
A staff of St Peter’s Primary and Secondary School, Ejigbo, Mrs Cynthia Patrick, had alleged that she was sacked after nine years of service and paid N2,500 as her benefit for going on maternity leave without the school management’s approval.
The revelation sparked crisis between the management and the Parents Teachers Association, PTA.
The crisis deepened as the school management announced the dissolution of the PTA and split it into two, primary and secondary.
This was made known by Barrister Paul Oyaletor, the chairman of the Laity Council of St Peter’s Catholic Church, Ejigbo, owner of the school.
Oyaletor said the action by the PTA and Cynthia was intended to embarrass the school management and the church.
He said Mrs Cynthia Patrick was not employed as a teacher as she claimed, rather she was employed as bus assistant to manage the school bus.
Oyaletor said she forced herself into teaching without adequate knowledge of teaching profession which the management has corrected.
He said the management has since decided to lay off some unqualified staff in including Cynthia.
He said before she was employed, she accepted the condition of service of the school which included her salary.
On the payment of meagre salary, he said the new management inherited the salary structure and Cynthia was duly paid after her sack in line with the rules and regulations laid down by the previous management.
He said the new management has since addressed the issue of teachers’ salary and entitlements and has equally employed qualified teachers to teach the children.
He said the new management is not liable for the past salary structure, adding that the church had assisted Cynthia and her family in the past and wondered why she succumbed to be used as a tool to blackmail the management and the church.
On the action of PTA, he alleged that their leaders were aggrieved because of the ongoing re-organization in the school to position it for better learning and management.
Oyaletor said some of th PTA leaders were not paying their children’s school fees and when the management intervened, they became antagonistic to the management and were trying at all costs to blackmail them.
Reacting, the chairman of PTA, Mr Okwudili Ude said the management has not informed PTA of its dissolution and said the management cannot dissolve what it did not create in the first place.
He said the agitation by the PTA was not personal, saying as critical stakeholders, they are only drawing the attention of the management to the injustice and to prevent such in future.
On the issue of not paying school fees, Ude said it was false because he was aware that the parents, including himself and his executives have been paying their children’s fees.
He explained that payments are made into a bank with tellers and they have receipts issued to them by the management to show that they are not owing the school.
Ude reiterated the PTA’s earlier position to protest if the management did not address their grievances and said no amount of intimidation and blackmail would deter them from doing what is right in the interest of the students.
Cynthia’s husband, Patrick, said the way his wife was treated was not fair but that he had left everything to God.
He also admitted that the church had assisted his family in the past through St Vincent de Paul society, adding that should not be an excuse to treat his wife in that manner after she spent many years in the school as a worker.