School is this….school is that….school is all….
A song we’ve heard for a while now
From our peers, parents, teachers, those other people we walk by and happen to be out-of-school
NYHQ2007-0931
Photo credit: blogs.unicef.org

The sentiments shared there…wwwuuupppppp
They can be scarier than a heart-attack
Z4NKh_LrAQx-ONPBriWDrrr4_7jlNZejDcIykqDqGzs
Photo credit: weforum.org

“No one can ever make it in life, without going to school”

“You’ll never amount up to anything in this life, stupid bastard”

“Aannhhaaaa, tell me, what do you plan on doing with your life once you’ve dropped outta shule”?

This is where I get to ask you….what would you do, if you were me or in my shoes, when the new school-term begins?
o-AFRICAN-KIDS-SCHOOL-facebook
Photo credit: huffingtonpost.com

Would you be strongly influenced to live, dine and sleep in your books?
Would you just give up on yourself?
Would you make an extra-effort to make sure that your grades on paper outshine those in your head?
Children sit outside their classroom as a nationwide strike by Kenyan teachers demanding a salary increase left most learning institutions paralyzed, in Nairobi
Photo credit: brookings.edu

Come the finals at national level
You’ve invested all this much time into your time at school
Literally, you’ve become a walking spirit among the living
The very first exam comes your way and you crush it thoroughly….at least, that’s what you have in your mind as your eyes just saw data being downloaded unto the answer booklet or space
rtx1lcml-e1494336690389
Photo credit: qz.com

The next ones, you’re not so sure about them but you still have hope that all will turn out as you want it to be
central-african-republic-girl-at-school-pierre-holtz-unicef
Photo credit: hdevri.com

School breaks off and a few days later, the journos make their rounds in the papers, all over the front pages
Saying that person A was the best in the whole district with this good collection and number of grades
On looking at yours, a dark lump grows down your throat
66% northern school
Photo credit: jp2jpc.org

You feel dejected, stupid and you’re kweshaning what happened
Did the douche-bag that gave you these grades carry a grudge on you?
Did you have your breakfast right, every morning before the start of the exams?
image-of-a-sad-child-6360
Photo credit: bornrealist.com

That level of school comes to an end and here we are, at post-secondary
What some of us may call uni
Hey hey
It’s a new beginning
From scratch…in class with the same people who topped their communities and the whole country
The pressure begins mounting on the very first month there
You can literally feel them breathing heavily, upon the look at the timetable
victoria-university-students
Photo credit: chano8.com

What do you suppose is causing this to happen?
IUIU-students
Photo credit: campustimes.ug

Why are so many of us under too much pressure?
Is it because we have a standard to maintain back where we are from?
Don’t we want the world to see us the way we truly are, without the masks we are wearing?
Are our lives threatened by this level of failure and incompetence?
Uganda-Christian-University-PS1200
Photo credit: savethemothers.org

What is bound to happen, if we’ve gotten to this stage?
Young as we are
Looking back at where we are from….the kind of society we come from
What they take pride in and not?
201309250928180660
Photo credit: irinnews.org

Don’t you agree that this and more, can and amounts to what I call suicidemia?