As I watched students and pupils this morning, dressed in their uniforms and rushing to get to school, memories from the past suddenly came rushing back. It reminded me of the time when I was just like them, always in a hurry to reach school. Let me take you back to what a typical day in my life looked like during those student years.
My day as a student usually begins at 3 a.m. with the ring of my alarm. I wake up at that time to sneak into the kitchen to heat a local iron on the gas cooker to iron my school uniform without being caught (the power supply in my area is nothing to write home about). I study, revise for tests, and check my assignments during those early hours.
By the time I'm done rounding up and trying to get those tasks done, it's 6:00 am, and I have to go out to perform some house chores and make some lunch to take to school. Later, I check my school bag, put in the necessary stationery I'll need at school, then brush my teeth, take my bath, and have a quick breakfast, usually consisting of tea and bread.
Tea and bread were the ideal breakfast for me because eating as early as 6:00 am is usually a Herculean task, but with tea, I'm all set. After eating, I put on my uniform, socks, and shoes, then check myself in the mirror before collecting money for snacks and running off to my school to attend the morning drill.
The morning drill involves teachers coming to the class to write some notes and teach before the morning assembly. It usually starts at 7:00 a.m. and ends at 7:30 a.m., during which we have to leave for the school's general morning assembly. The purpose of the morning drill is to encourage students to come to school early, as they wouldn't want to miss what has been taught.
As the Deputy Senior Prefect, my morning routine at school usually involves going about to inspect other prefects on their duty posts and ensure they are doing their work well, attending to teachers' needs and errands, ensuring that all students leave for the assembly hall for morning devotion, and sometimes helping teachers assign latecomers some community service.
After morning devotion, which usually starts at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 8:30 a.m., I hang around the school assembly hall to ensure that all students go to their classes before going to mine. In class, I settle down for lectures. We usually learn about five subjects each morning before the break period, with each subject taking about 40 minutes.
During break/lunchtime, which spans 30 minutes, I eat my homemade lunch, as there are no cafeterias in my school, and afterward, I have my snacks.
Break time is an ideal time to rest or read some interesting stories, so I make sure to take my lunch as soon as possible so that I can have some minutes left to either rest or relax before heading back to class.
After break, classes usually involve us going to the laboratory to learn and perform some practicals as science students. Afterward, we go back to the class to continue with other lessons until 4:00 pm, which is the school's official dismissal time. I don't usually go home as soon as the bell for school dismissal goes off; most times, I stay back for extracurricular activities or after-school lessons, which take another hour. So the time I usually head home is 5:00 pm with my friends, unless on days we don't have after-school lessons.
When I get home, the kitchen is always my first stop. I don't even care to remove my uniform; I just go straight to the kitchen to eat because I usually get home very famished and tired. On many occasions, my big brother threatened to come to my school to report me to my class teacher for this bad behavior. Who cares anyway?
After eating, I go to my room to pull off my uniform and have a refreshing shower, then rest for some minutes before continuing with some chores.
After-school chores usually involve me fetching water, sweeping some places in the house, and sometimes preparing dinner or trying to help my siblings do so and being kicked out of the kitchen, which is my favorite part. I don't like helping.
By the time I'm done with all these chores, it's already evening, so I take my dinner, mainly consisting of fruits, and then hang out with the rest of the family before going inside to prepare for the next day and sleep.
So, friends, this is what a day in my life looked like during my school years, and I'm eager to know about yours. Let's interact.
