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Short story: I “blew’ my secondary education
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Short story: I “blew’ my secondary education

When the result of the BECE were released, I had passed with flying colours, which my parents proud of me. Unlike other students who found it difficult getting placed in their chosen school under the computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), I had no problem; I had my first choice of school.

I was happy to have gained admission to one of the prestigious yet at the same time I was afraid of the frightening stories that I have heard about life in the boarding house.

As a fresher, I was scared of the new people I will meet and being bullied by my seniors. On the other hand, I looked forward to a life-time experience of freedom without parental control and the new friends I would like to make.

A day before school reopened, my parents gave me a long lecture about and expectations and advised me to be a good girl, make good friends whose lives would impact positively on me and above all, study hard to make them proud .

I listened attentively to them and I assured them that I would not disappoint them. On the ‘D’ day I parked my things into my dad’s car and journeyed towards Cape Coast. When we reached the school, I went through all the formalities and saw my parents off.

After their departure I felt sad and lonely and tears welled my eyes.

Life at the boarding house was tough as well as exciting. I enjoyed the Saturday entertainment programs but the workload was too much for the juniors. Bullying aside, there was scrubbing, sweeping, weeding and fetching of water amongst others. But gradually the first year ended.

In my second year, I was neither a senior nor a junior so I had some lee-way and I did as I pleased. I broke school rules, skipped prep and other activities. The more I escaped notice, the more brazen I became.

But one faithful day, after I sneaked out of the school with a friend, there was a roll call during Prep time and names of all the absentees were noted down. The Assistant Boys Prep, Ronald, who conducted the roll call, deliberate omitted my name from the list.

Subsequently, he used to lure me into a relationship. I accepted his proposal because I felt indebted to him for covering up for me. Infact I felt good to be en have noticed by the school prep prefect. All my friends approved of our relationship and I felt on top of the world. I had no respect for my seniors since I had befriended one of them.

My disrespectful attitude and refusal to adhere to the rules was reported to the senior house mistress who warned me several times but I was not bothered. Instead of studying, I wasted all my time writing letters to Ronald and looking for opportunities to be with him. That continued till the seniors completed school and we took over from them.

After Ronald left the school, he continues to visit me at school and wrote to me occasionally. This continued until their results were released and he entered the university. After a while he stopped writing letters and he didn’t reply my letters.

Later, one of my friends told me that he was dating another girl. I was really hurt but our SSSCE was approaching and I needed to write and pass the exams. But anytime I picked a book to read, thoughts of him flooded my mind and I found it difficult to concentrate.

I was even devastated the more when I did not receive a success card from him. It was then when I presumed that he had broken up with me. We started our SSSCE in earnest, and to my surprise I received a letter from him telling me to forget about him.
It was a big blow to me because I care about him.

I struggled to write my exams but the break up really affect my studies and I knew about the outcome wouldn’t be good. Later, the results were released. I had performed poorly and had to re-write the exams.

Currently, I am still at home re-writing the exams while most of my mates have gained admissions to the tertiary institutions. It is a major setback in my life. I wish I had not entered into any relationship at that time that I did which had cost my education. I hope you will take a cue from my experience and had concentrate on your education whilst at school.

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