A couple of days back, there was this story making around social media, concerning a male Junior Secondary School student in Nigeria, who expressed love and admiration for his teacher in form of an overly amusing love letter.

The source of this letter had it's root from the Facebook handle of the teacher herself, who was identified as Chioma.

Massive reactions from Nigerians have continued to trail this story
and I thought it wise to air my personal view on tthe matter.

From the standpoint of a trainee teacher which I am, I take side with no party.The student is not exonerated, the teacher neither, but if I should place their separate blames on a weighing balance, that of the teacher would sure tilt to the earth.

The bulk of my problem is with the teacher, and less with g kid. If she, as an adult lacks knowledge on how to handle such a situation, then you can guess right, how a student under the tutelage of such a teacher would grow.

In every educational facility, there's always provision for a school counsellor, or counsellors, to cater for the psychological and emotional needs of the students while the teachers take care of the academic. A counsellor would have understood that a child at that particular age range is an adolescent, and because of that, he may tend to exhibit some psychosexual traits just as he did (writing a love note to his class teacher).

A student counsellor would have understood that that is not an anomaly.

The teacher was very wrong to have took the case out of the classroom, out of the school and brought it all the way to the social space. By that act, she has done nothing to help the student, but has succeeded in getting a good dose of attention for herself on social media.

What would she have done to be considered right?

First, she would have called the student to herself in a kind and friendly manner.

And after that, ask him questions. Starting with questions related to his academics, to social, and then personal issues. Answers gotten from this interview would have guided the teacher on how to counsel the client better.

She would have given him a conducive atmosphere to air his thoughts, what bothers him most of the time, and all of such.

Then, talk to him about the issue on ground. She would have explained to him that what he feels inside of him is not abnormal, but very wrong, and an insult to her personality as a teacher. This might be the difficult aspect of it, as the teacher must be careful cautioning, so as not to defeat the main purpose which is counselling (offering assistance).

As an alternative means, the teacher would have forwarded the case to the school counsellor, and that would have been the best option. This way, effectiveness would have been ensured, and the possibility of the teacher addressing the situation with anger or sentiments would have been knocked out.

We should learn to do things the right way, and at the right time.