The last 24 hours have been filled with loads of activities, from preparing for the new week to moving early to work because I'm supposed to be among those who coordinate the affairs of activities this week and the like, and thereafter I've indulged in several other activities, but one of the most notable among them, which I'll be discussing with you, was how money went missing from a student in my class, how everyone denied being responsible, and how I was able to catch the culprit.
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It happened that I was in the class to distribute some of the school items to the new students who happened to be in the class where I was the class teacher, and some of the items I was to distribute to them were their caps, berretes, ties, and the school badge. I had to call each one by their names, and they walked up to collect the items, but then when it got to a particular student, she came forward, and not long after returning back to her seat, she started crying, and my attention was drawn to that, so I had to make inquiries about why she's crying.
Then I was informed that while she walked up to me to take her items, someone took her money(₦50) from her bag, and that's supposed to be her transport fare home. I inquired about who took the money, and no one gave me a positive response; everyone kept claiming they didn't, so I asked the 3 girls sitting around her to come forward, and while they kneeled beside me, I continued with the distribution of the items to everyone, so it wouldn't distract from what I'm doing.
When I was done, I invited four of them, including the person whose money was stolen, to my office, and over there, I inquired once again about who took the money, but none of them confessed; instead, they all said they didn't steal and didn't notice anyone opening the bag, so I decided to find out how much each one of them was given from home and how much they spent. The first girl (Hannah), whose money was stolen, told me she was given 200 naira from home, spent 150 naira from the money, and was supposed to be left with 50 naira that's was stolen, which ought to be her transport fare home. The second girl (Aishat) said she was given 100 naira from home, and she spent all of it. She also said she was given 50 naira by the third girl (Aminat), whom I'm yet to interrogate, but according to her, she spent both the money she was given from home and the one she was given by Aminat. I also asked the same question of the third girl, Aminat, and she told me she was given 200 naira from home. She said she spent 100 naira on snacks and gave 50 naira to Aishat and had an extra 50 naira with her, making a total of 200 naira, but then the fourth girl, Esther, told me she was given 50 naira from home and she spent it on snacks. She also told me the third girl, Aminat, also gave her 50 naira, which she also spent on snacks( note that Aminat, only said she gave one person 50 naira and now we've two people who said she gave them 50 naira each).
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With those, I was able to discover that Aminat wasn't supposed to still have 50 naira, because they'll make her have a total of 250, when all she was given was just 200, since she spent half of the money given to her and also gave out half to others, which all sum up to 209, and yet she has an extra 50 naira with her presently.
That finding made it glaring who stole the money, but then I had to ask them to search one another's pocket and bags, of which we saw nothing but the extra 50 naira that the third girl had with her.
I asked her where she got the extra 50 naira, and she was dumbfounded before she lied that her mother gave her that too. To clear every benefit of doubt, I picked up the register to search for her parents phone number, and I called them to make an inquiry about the amount they have their daughter to spend that day. The mother told me she gave her 200 naira, and that concluded my findings.
Immediately, she saw me call her mother and hear her voice. She started crying and begging that she'd confess, but then I already called, she confessed, and she was referred to the school disciplinary committee immediately, where she was given some punishment and also asked to come with her parents the next day. Although it sounds like a tasking and time-consuming event, I'm kind of glad it happens not too long after the new students came in, because I see that scenario as a perfect example to teach them the need to be careful with their items and to also be vigilant of things happening around them.
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It also serves as a warming factor that I believe will scare off other students from involving themselves in anything related to stealing because now they'll be afraid that no matter how careful they're, I'll definitely catch them. I actually gave a speech in the class after the findings, and while it serves as a warming factor to be careful with their items, it also serves as a fear factor to make them abstain from stealing.
And that, I believe, will make my class more safe and secure from any such anomalies going forward.
That's about it for now. Thanks so much for your time. Have a wonderful night's rest.
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