Blue Flame

Source:metaAi

It happened many years ago while I was still in school, JSS 3 to be precise. I have been the quietest girl in my class. Meanwhile, our class seems to be the most disturbing and loudest class in the entire school. I can remember vividly the number of times our teachers dealt with us. Being in such a class was problematic for me because most of the time, when the class is disturbing, all the members of the class will be punished. So most of the time, when a teacher is out of the class and the class becomes noisy I will get my books to read. Most times I will lose concentration but I had to maintain my reading posture. When I discovered that this pattern was working for me, preventing me from being punished along with other members of the class, it became a lifestyle for me.

One Monday afternoon, our English teacher, Miss Eberechi, who was also a corps member, walked into the class with tight brown trousers that revealed her shape, a well-made-up face, and her hair beautifully permed. She was a beauty to behold. She confidently walked in with her high-heeled shoes and went straight to the board and wrote the subject and the topic. It was as if everyone in the class planned not to greet her. Everyone was still making a noise. She turned to the class and ordered everyone to get on their knees. “Why are you guys behaving like children? Every time I come to this class, you must give me a headache; therefore, all of you Kneel”, she commanded with her thin, small voice. Everyone seems to snub her. I was afraid, I knelt together with other students, but one student refused to.

“Are you insane?” she thundered, pointing at the female students. The girl remained unperturbed as if she was not the one the teacher was talking to. “It’s obvious that some of you have grown wings and you have shown that you are ready to forfeit your studentship”. The class fell into dead silence. Everyone knew the implications of disobeying a teacher. They understood the punishment attached to it. But what made us react that way is what I can’t explain.

“I will have to report the entire class to the principal because it’s getting out of hand” she said. I started feeling bad, and I didn’t know when I echoed out the statement “we are sorry ma” I did not know that the statement would put me in big trouble. “You’re sorry for what”? She began her trouble with me. “When I was in this class many years ago, none of you were not given birth to, how dare you challenge my authority, I will make you face the music so that next time you learn to respect your teacher”, she said. Probably, she was afraid of the student who refused to kneel with us; instead of facing her, she began to talk to the rest of the class.

“All members of this class should meet me in the office now” a voice thundered from behind. We knew it was the principal. He was watching the whole scenario from afar hence he wouldn’t want to listen to anyone’s explanation. We knew we were in for bigger trouble, so all of us had made up our minds to face the music.

Source:metaAi

All of us made our way down to the principal’s office. At the principal's office, there was a table on the left side with an atlas on it and a few books. A wall clock was ticking, telling the time. A calénder that marked the school's last anniversary was hung close to the wall clock, and adjacent to the table was a shelf containing different kinds of books. Hardly do we enter the principal's office except you're guilty of a crime or your family member came to see you. We were told to kneel, he then went to his drawer and brought a brown coloured book and flipped through it to a certain page. He gave it to one of us to read. At the back of the book was boldly written ‘Ministry of Education: guidelines and punishment’. She read out the punishment for disobeying a teacher. At the end, he asked, “Are you guys guilty or not”? Nobody responded. “Are you guys guilty or not?" he repeated, this time with a commanding voice hitting his table. This injected more fear in us "You think that I am here for a joke” he added sternly. He stood up to step out, and everyone responded with one voice, "We're guilty, sir". Not long after he came back with the compound master, who ordered us to the school farm to work for two days, missing classes. As for Victoria, she was suspended for a month and was told to return to school with an apology letter and with her parents.