Celebration is all about showing joy and happiness and recognizing the importance of an event, person, or situation. People celebrate good times to express happiness and thank whoever made them happy. They do this in different ways; some get together with family and friends to eat and drink, while others just go to their places of worship to thank their creator.
Celebrations in schools come in various forms and for different reasons as well. Students celebrate their academic success, and teachers and students also celebrate at the end of every academic session for a successful year. Additionally, family, friends, and members of the school gather to celebrate outgoing students during their graduation for successfully completing their school years despite the challenges.
Of all the celebrations in school, there is one that students, including myself, always look forward to: the holiday given at the halfway point of each term, known as mid-term break, or at the end of the term, known as school closure.
This break allows students to go home for weeks to stay with their families before resuming school. Students anticipate this holiday because it is a period when they can spend quality time with family and friends without school interference. They also get to engage in recreational activities different from those done in school. Some travel to explore, while others simply work to make some money for themselves. It is a period most students eagerly anticipate.
Whenever it is announced that students can go on such breaks, they celebrate in their various classes. Some dance, sing, and make noise to express how happy they are to have a break from school. In my class, we sometimes contribute money to cook at the school's kitchen for teachers and ourselves. We dance, have final conversations, and share moments before parting ways to spend time at home. As the holiday period approaches, students begin to count down to the final day when they will go home to be with their family.
During my second year in high school, my class didn't get a midterm break while other classes went home. This was because, at that time, we were preparing for an external exam, which is also our final exam in high school. I felt sad because my classmates and I were the only students coming to school while others enjoyed their one-week mid-term break at home.
Despite our frustrations and murmurs, no one paid attention, so we accepted our fate and looked forward to when the term would come to an end so we could spend some quality time at home. The term eventually came to an end with a two-month holiday break.
We were very excited on the last day of school before the holiday. We played all kinds of games like Scrabble, Whot, Ludo, and others. We sang and danced, discussing various activities we would engage in during the holiday. However, our joy was cut short when the school's principal walked into our classroom to make an announcement.
Guess what the announcement was? We were to keep coming to school a week after the holiday to continue with lessons and exam preparation. This meant that out of the two-month holiday, we only got to spend a week at home.
Our celebrations came to a sudden halt. No matter how much we tried to protest or negotiate for two weeks, it fell on deaf ears. We could have chosen to ignore the announcement and spend the full holiday at home, but we didn't have a choice. The implications of doing so were severe: we could miss tests given during that time, which counted as part of our assessment and would be required during the final exams. Missing those tests meant we were already failing and would be repeating them next year. Nobody wanted that. So, all we could do was murmur and accept our fate. We went home, and after a week, we returned to school to continue lessons.
Going back to school after just a week felt like a sudden change we didn't see coming. We were really looking forward to a longer holiday, but it turned out differently. The happy break we expected became a short pause, and we wished for more time.
It taught us a surprising lesson about being tough when things don't go as planned, being able to adjust, and how life can be full of surprises.
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