WE ACTUALLY DIDN'T WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL

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. 

photocredit: #thesheet#