Young Writers Society

Many Nigerian High schools have military standard rules and disciplinary measures.

Schools are also infested with punishment standards involving whipping and physically laborious penalties. Although the number of schools, which have whipping as a means of chastisement, is diminishing rapidly, There are still a few that accept this mode of punishment.

The High school I attended was among the whip-allowed schools. It was a boarding school with teachers of both gruesome and pleasant nature.

Go to class late, you get flogged; leave the hostel late, you get flogged; go to the cafeteria late, you get flogged; go to church late, you get flogged; lose your necktie, you get flogged (Although it was a private school, we wore uniforms).

Both students and teachers are allowed to whip. Junior students can be whipped by senior students. Junior students and senior students can be whipped by teachers. Teachers can be whipped by the principal. I was just kidding about the last one.

Here is the daily routine observed by me as a junior student:

4am Wake up, fetch water from the reservoir, and take a bath. The means by which we were awoken was very simple. The Hostel prefect (a senior) wakes up first and begins a countdown from 10 to 1. At the end of this, he goes on a whipping spree and flog anyone that's still asleep in the hostel. Till today, I do not know how a person counting from a mile away can wake me up.

5am Sweep the hostel, mop the hostel, clean the bathroom, or sweep the surroundings; depending on what was allocated to me by the hostel prefect. Every hostel inhabitant participates in the daily cleaning of the hostel. Anyone who absconds from work, shall be whipped.

7am Walk to class. Anyone who hides in hostel at this time shall be whipped.

8:30 am School assembly. At this time, every student and teacher gather at the assembly ground to llisten or give announcements. Students stand in lines according to their levels in class (Jss1, Jss2, Jss3, SS1, SS2, SS3). When the teachers finish making their announcements, the seniors take over to whip every student found without a necktie, incorrect school socks, uncut hair, colored shoes...and the list goes on.

1:30pm b. We would return to the hostels and change our clothes.

2pm Compulsory siesta. Everyone is expected to be asleep at this time. Anyone found on the floor, instead of on their bed, shall be whipped. Anyone found on their bed, but not asleep, shall be whipped. Anyone found asleep, but still in uniform, shall be whipped.

3pm Prep time. I still don't know the meaning of 'prep'. I haven't found it in the dictionary. But in school, this was another teaching period. We would go to class again and be taught by teachers. However, the time it took was less than the main class time. By the way, anyone not found in class shall be whipped.

4:30 Sports time. At this time, you could choose to go play football, basketball, lawn tennis, table tennis, or volleyball; or, you could choose to stay in hostel and wash your clothes. If you're found washing inside the hostel, you shall be whipped.

6:00 pm Dining time. Everyone is supposed to be in the dining hall at this time. As you'd expect, anyone that is not found in the dining hall shall be whipped.

7:00 pm Prep time, AGAIN. Another time for reading in class. However, no teacher comes to teach; you have to read alone. Anyone not present at class shall be whipped. Anyone found at class but talking, shall be whipped. Anyone staying quiet, but not reading, shall be whipped. Anyone who falls asleep shall be whipped. Anyone who steps out of the class shall be whipped.

9:00 Prep over. After 2 hours of pretending to read and holding yourself from sleeping, you could now go to the hostel to sleep...or not yet. People have to press their clothes during this free time. The ironing spot gets flooded with students. 90% of juniors don't get to press their clothes because seniors would push them away for them to press theirs.

10pm Sleep time. Anyone found outside the hostels at this time shall be whipped. Anyone found standing in the hostel shall be flogged, anyone found on their beds, but not asleep...you know the rest.

This was my daily routine for 5 years. Through that time, I watched many people leave the school, while others come in. I guess the ones who left could not bear the physical and psychological toll they faced. Were they weak? No, they weren't. I believe they merely failed to visualize themselves at the finish line.

But I didn't leave; instead I stood strong and made it through.

I remember how I and my classmates used to play the game 'First to flinch at the lashes of the whip loses'. Whenever there was a general flogging, we would play this game to determine the strongest person. It sounds weird but it was really fun. I believe it was our crazy way of dealing with the psychological effects of the flogging. It was a mere tool constructed to take our minds off the hurt. It was a very effective tool at that.

I know that the disciplinary measures should be criticized. But how can I criticize something that I benefited from? Something that shaped me into the strong person that I am now. I'm aware f the disadvantages it had, but people never seem to look at the advantages it had.

I have observed that since I graduated from that school, I have never given up on anything.

The school did not only mold me intellectually, it did physically. As a result of the physical labor I went through, I had been passively working out. I thank God because now, I don't have to work out to get well-built; I got them without trying to.

If it weren't for the coercion to learn, I'm sure that I would not be intellectually sound today. I know that I was very lazy to learn back then. If I had attended a school with lenient means of admonishment, I would not have made it this far in life. My High school,l with its harsh admonishments for idlers, made me read and learn even if I didn't want to. The teachers' pedagogy made me study in excess of what I needed to study. This is why till today, I have a strong predilection of studying everything that crosses my attention.

The High school I attended might be criticized for its 'inhuman' policies and standards. However, I can say that most students that graduated from the school are thankful for the experiences they acquired from it. I am one of such people.