We've recently been sharing secondary school memories in my school's old students' Facebook group and I thought to write this.
1.BULLYING
This was a norm, a way of life and everybody was involved. A JS2 student could bully a JS1 student even if the latter looked like Goliath and was four years older. Even the SUs and spirikokos bullied their juniors because it was okay by all students not at the receiving end.
Fighting back your senior attracted a sentence short of death as you would be left with many scars to show your children. Reporting to a master/mistress was not much better because you would get into trouble with other seniors. How many would you keep reporting?
A senior unlucky to be reported for bullying could face any punishment ranging from weeding, digging, tree-felling to suspensions and expulsion from the school depending on how serious the case was.
2.BREAKING BOUNDS
You did not do this much in your junior days because you would die if you were caught by your seniors. With seniority came boldness and you only had the masters and security (especially "blue blue"to fear.
There were many reasons to break bounds. You wanted to play video games, you wanted to eat something better than your dining hall food, you wanted to attend a party, you wanted to watch El Classico, or you even wanted to sell your textbooks.
There were many routes like "Ishapa", "Kokodiks", "B/ball court", "2k" and our favourite "discor"
The standard punishment was a 2-week suspension plus or minus the purchase of bags of cement but could be less severe if you played your politics right or were just lucky.
3.COOKING IN THE HOSTEL
Can I ever forget the heavenly aroma of "blo-blo"? It could and should wake you from sleep if you did not want to be hungry. We mostly used buckets and boiling rings and it was sometimes done in the ceiling.
It almost always attracted a 2-week suspension when you were caught but the more painful part was not getting the opportunity to eat your "blo".
4.EXTORTION
You must have been James Bond if nobody extorted anything from you and you must have been an angel if you didn't "tax" or "chance" anything from anybody. It could just be the customary "dropping" for your school-father or someone collecting your "provisions" and eating them in your presence while you painfully watched him or even washed his very dirty jeans.
I cannot remember how many times I had to "pass" my Thursday fish to a senior, or my loaf, or my meat, or my egg, or my "moims"!
Was there even a school punishment for this? Honestly, I don't think.
5.EXAM MALPRACTICE
This one na straight repeat and if na SS2 third term na bye bye to school o. Investigations were shoddy or non-existent and you could be punished if someone just went to "pour" that you had "choks". People however threw caution to the wind and got all kinds of choks that "tallied" or did not (most didn't) during WAEC.
6.GRAFFITI
Why wouldn't you "sign" on the wall? Whether "block" or hostel, on trees or even tables. There were even roll calls of cliques on walls and the names made for fabulous stories told to new students. I remember names like "Dulla", "Danger", "Dadawizzy", "Lumzor", "Cocaine" "Suicide" and the revered members of the "Terror Squad". I'm still trying to remember so many.
You were never caught while signing but one useless human being "campaigning" for prefect would compile a list of signers and you would be asked to pay for buckets of paint when you came to collect your WAEC results but the walls would still be unpainted three years after.
7.STEALING
This is where students and the authority were on the same page. After days of people trying to find out "who dey jack locker" an unlucky thief might be found. There was no leniency here, you were stepping out of the school forever on the next assembly day.
Some forms of stealing were acceptable to students. These included stealing of mango at "mango island", stealing of "kpeke" (chicken) or "fourrunner" (goats) from the staff quarters to prepare and eat. Those who suffered the most where the staff whose houses were close to the boys' hostels but it was hard to pity them because honestly stolen chicken had the best taste especially when cooked in the bush.
There were other serious offences like entering the girls' hostel and fighting especially with weapons but this writing thing is not easy abeg. You can all add to the list.
May God forgive us all our sins and never let our children know all the things we did till they leave secondary school.
:)
