Old school Napep!
Oyibo people brought Western education to us in 1842 and between then and now, we have experienced teaching and learning in different forms and types.
Today, the tribe takes a peek into six of these school practices that we no longer experience. Some of them; pleasing –that you’d wonder how we allowed them to slip away from us, and the others; so bad–and will have you like “Bye Felicia, whew!”
All in all, we are taking you on a ride that peeks into the schooling experience of generations before us. Come along!
1. Writing On Slates
Notebooks have not always been around for writing and learning o. Our parents and their parents had to write on slates, a scroll-like material that only had one page and once you filled it up, you had to erase all you had written to continue your task. This practice involved a lot of cramming.
No wonder their hottest prayer point was “give us retentive memory” because I can only imagine.
2. Darkening The Board With Charcoal
The Indomie generation can’t relate but looking at the bright side, gossiping when sourcing for charcoal, grinding it and doing the honours of darkening the board was the basis of some friendships.
No cap.
3. PPT JAMB Exam
If exams were sayings, PPT (Paper Pencil Test) would be if your skin is no full, no put body. Now you can just put in your answers directly, PPT JAMB was all about showing your workings which means negative marking.
What about the part where scripts went missing and you had to re-sit whether you liked it or not? God forbid the examiner is in a bad mood when marking your paper or your handwriting is illegible. Just sope otilor!
4. Hand To Ear Rule
A rite of passage into primary school then was for one hand to touch the ear on the opposite side. See big opp for the five-litre brethren of those times.
Well, good riddance because even though the short people we have with us now are annoying, no one should have to go through that.
5. Duty Roster
There was this one too, where you had to check what duty fell to you every Monday. Once in a while, one’s name would be totally omitted, and dears, I promise you, it was one of the most fulfilling experiences one could ever have.
As for our overwise classmates, who used their health as an excuse to get out of this compulsory suffering, weldone!
6. Using Old Notebooks As Proof To Get New Ones
At this time, free education did not mean tuition only. It included free notebooks, pens, and textbooks so the culture was that once any of these things were finished, you brought it as proof to get new ones.
Thoughtful, thoughtful structure! Nigeria will be good again.
Which ones did we leave out? Gist us in the comments. Mua!
#TraditionalValues is a segment documenting the beauty of indigenous culture. This edition showcases six old-school practices in Nigeria.
