Submit! Submit your books! I’m going to the English teacher’s office now!
‘Please, wait now am almost done’. ‘Take a chill pill now’. ‘Calm down sef’. A few of the classmates echoed as they scampered to finish writing.
Welcome to the classroom! The citadel and the most popular class in Agbebi community school in Oyo state.
Everyone in the village knew about the calibre of students that studied in the classroom. The hawkers, palm-wine tappers, town criers and all the people who don’t even attend the school were aware of this particular class. What’s special about this class, you may ask?
The Agbebi community was located close to an ancient hill. The school building consisted of bungalows scattered around the compound. This class was the only one built on a rock. So, it was really high and had an unfitting balance.
After the time-keeper goes to the centre of the school compound to ring the bell for assembly. These set of students have to crawl, climb or sometimes jump out of the class for those who are already skilled in the jump as a result of daily practice. The classroom was always cold and exciting. A view from the window was another lofty rock protruding up the sky unguided. It was a sight to behold.
To crown this special class, the students present in this space were of special wirings. They were the intelligent ones, the storytellers, the business boys and girls (who sold pencils and biros) the chatterboxes, the interpreters, the latecomers and those who pop in twice or thrice a week to school.
Oh! The sleeping birds…. Who could be pardoned after having the hard-core job of errands to deliver before heading to school which is miles away?
Awero, the class captain took the books to Mr Patu’s office, English teacher. As he was leaving the staff room Mr Saudeen the math teacher said ‘I’m not coming for my period today’ go and inform your classmates. That was how they had free time on their hands they started making noise and playing.
So, it happened that every twelve o’ clock a beautiful nightingale bird with a well-pointed beak will stay on the lofty rock outside and start to coo—and sing… This was a very special time for the students, has they had a formed a Yoruba song along with the bird’s tune. Some, will start dancing, twirling or jumping,
On this day, the bird started trilling and singing but took a different twist. It called out some of the friends’ names, Awero, Abosede, Alamu, Adijo, and Alake and said come out to dance on the rock.
Everyone was in awe at how this bird could tune out their names. As, they were about to step out Mrs Omidora came in with a long spikey cane “ And where to? She started off, will you go and sit down now? In nanoseconds they vanished back to their sits. This was the geography teacher, who loved to tell stories and was quite dramatic with her illustrations.
Hello class, today we’re going to be learning about the “Lakes”. At this point, the high-pitched whining, trills and whistling of beautiful songs now became a distraction to the class.
Awero!!, go and stop that bird said the teacher. He dashed outside quickly only to discover that…
To be continued.
