Chimdalu Onyekwuluje: Another boarding school student dies in Anambra

As controversy continues to trail the death of a boarding student of Dowen College, Lagos, Sylvester Oromoni, another boarding house pupil of St. Michael’s Boys College, Ozubulu, Anambra State, Chimdalu Onyekwuluje, has reportedly died.

Onyekwuluje, an 11-year-old JSS 2 student of the school, was said to have died as a result of negligence on the part of the school management, who allegedly refused to call his parents to pick him up after he took ill.

He has since been buried at Uzoakwa, Ihiala, Anambra State, in his family compound.

Parents of the deceased, Prince Cornelius and Ogochukwu Onyekwuluje, who spoke with journalists during the burial of their son, said even when the student’s health had totally deteriorated, the management insisted he must stay behind to finish his exams before he could be released, saying the decision was the reason for his death.

He was said to have died on December 17, 2021, nine days after he was picked up by his parents after a cousin to the deceased borrowed a phone to alert them that the boy was ill.

Onyekwuluje said, “My son died out of negligence on the part of the school. He was sick and they refused to tell us. It was my son’s cousin that borrowed a phone to call his mother to tell us to come and pick Bright that he was dying.

“He told us he has been the one backing him from the school hostel to the classroom every day to sit for exams.

“Even after the call, I reached the guardian of my son but he lied to me that the boy was okay and that it was nothing serious. I insisted on coming from Port Harcourt, Rivers State where I live to pick him, and they insisted it was nothing serious.

“When I insisted I must see him, I was surprised the boy looked so bad that he was already dying. I asked the guardian if this was the boy he said was alright, but he did not answer. Now I have lost my only son.”

Meanwhile, principal of the school, Rev Fr Romanus Ike Muoma, has denied that the school management delayed in releasing the student to his parents.