We actually didn't want to go to school.
As I opened my gate
to hit the streets as usual, I was met with a usual scene. Cries and
wailing of children who are being dropped off in schools by their
parents and guardians.
They didn't want to go to school. One
child's cries of innocence really touched me. He was being pulled out of
the mum's car by a teacher and he kept struggling to hold on to his
mum. The mum just watched on as her poor child was being dragged and
apparently whisked away to a place he
doesn't want to be, at least for the moment. His cry was heart-piercing
like that of children trying to save their heads from the hands of a
pastor who nonchalantly dips their heads into a salty water of baptism
and giving them foreign names as if their native names wouldn't
guarantee heaven at last.
Immediately he was pulled clear from the car, the mum reversed and drove off. He threw himself on the ground just like Oby Ezekwesili when the soldiers blocked her peaceful March to Aso Villa. His cries of "my mummy, my mummy' were just falling on ears who were bent on dragging him inside a classroom to be probably bullied by his mates or even the teacher who will make him to believe that A is for Apple and he keeps wondering why the other teacher deceived them into believing that A is for Aeroplane.
Another was crying profusely atop a bike. He didn't want school. The
other was being dragged by one hand by her guardian not minding her
resistance. When her resistance became too significant, the guardian
responded by giving her a dirty slap. I wanted to intervene but I held
my peace for the guardian might actually be the mum, and this is not
America.
We actually didn't want to go to school. We were forced
to school, indoctrinated and promised a brighter future. At the end of
the indoctrination, our eyes were opened: No decent jobs, the future
seemed more uncertain. Some of us started serving as apprentice to those
who were able to avoid school. Some started off on their own doing
things not related to their course of study. Some still went back to
seek that promised brighter future by furthering their studies.
But in the end, we really didn't want to go to school. We just wanted
to be loved. Then make some money and pay back to those who showed us
love. And then go the extra mile of saving the world.
We really didn't want to go to school. But finally, school is actually a place to experience.
That's why mum and dad 'pushed us to school. At least, you can bow out after a 'woeful' WAEC result.
That's why mum and dad 'pushed us to school. At least, you can bow out after a 'woeful' WAEC result.
photocredit: #thesheet#
