A FATEFUL DAY AT HILLTOP DAY SCHOOL

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“Mr. Emmamuel”, the principal, as usual, called him by his surname. Of all the staff in the school, Emmanuel seems to be the favourite of all. Every now and then the woman will invite him to her office. If the woman were not married, many people would have thought that they were in a romantic relationship. In her office, mr. Emmanuel sat innocently staring at his principal as she spoke.

“you know, the term just began and a new academic session for that matter, and you have been our only English teacher taking an entire school on the subject of English, which you’re really good at, therefore, we as the management of the school cannot rule out the fact that you have been instrumental in the growth and development of the school, so for this reason we have decided to employ a new staff that will help you in your subject, which we knew before now that the work load was too much on you” she said confidently.

As she concluded her long speech, Mr Emmanuel was already disappointed because he was thinking that it would lead to an increase in his salary. Mr. Emmanuel has been teaching for the past six years and his salary has been increased once. Despite the pleadings from the staff, nothing has been done about it. As the school experienced a new crop of students, it was expedient that the management consider an increase in the salary of staff.

“I have heard you ma”, he responded. “It’s a good decision by the management to employ someone who would help because, like you said, the workload was much on me, and it affected, to a large extent, my output.” He continued “but ma, ….” He stammered, “Just say your mind”, the woman cut in.

“Thank you” he replied with a sharp smile. “as the saying goes, to whom much is given, much is expected, I have been on same payroll for over four years not minding the economic realities of the country, the high in inflation rates as well as the government increase in taxation, yet I do my work without complaint, ma, I think, it will be better if the management considers increasing the salary of staff.”
“Well, that’s a good observation”, the principal interrupted him, “the issue of salary increment has been on the agenda of the school management, and I am pretty sure that very soon something will be done about it”.

“This has been the same statement for the past four years when we demanded an increment, how long will it take the management to decide on this matter”? he asked,
“Believe me”
“I believe you, but let it not be business as usual”
“Thank you for your time and attention, and once again I want to thank you on behalf of the management for your efforts and hard work toward building the students up. There has been a great change in their academic performances.” She said as she dismissed her English teacher.

For almost a decade, the proprietor of the school has not visited the school, and all information concerning the school has been passed through him by the principal, who is the chief manager of the school. None of the staff has met the man before, but according to rumours, the man is a pastor who resides in the United Kingdom with his family. No one knew when the man would visit the school not even the principal.
So one fateful day, an unusual vehicle drove into the school environment, and many thought that it was one of the parents of the student, but it was not. It was Pastor Henry Alfred, the proprietor and chairman of the board of governors of Hilltop schools. He was welcomed into the principal’s office, and after some minutes, all the staff were called for a brief meeting.

All the staff were seated, and Mr. Henry began his speech by thanking all the staff for accepting to teach in his school. “I thank everyone for choosing to teach in a school like this. Teaching is a noble profession; hence, you must be proud to be a teacher, " he said. He added that he was in a hurry to meet up with his flight back to the UK. He also mentioned that he has decided to increase the salary of all the staff by a hundred per cent beginning from this month. “I know it's not easy to be a private school teacher with a meagre pay as salary, hence, I have decided to increase everyone's salary”. Suddenly, there was an ovation that erupted him from completing his statement. Not long after, he bade everyone farewell and urged everyone to be hardworking. Indeed Everyone was happy. It was indeed a fateful day for Hilltop staff.