Behind The Scenes in Nigerian Boarding Schools
By: Kolawole Deborah
Tags: Teenagers, LGBTQ, Harassment Prevention, Boarding High Schools, Sexual Harassment

Behind The Scenes in Nigerian Boarding Schools

photo credit: Google

As a teenager in the primary school, I have always been fascinated with students in the boarding house. Most of them came home during the holidays with poised accents, some put on a whole new maturity level and there’s this feeling of people who have seen the world and garnered experience. Anytime a secondary student in the boarding house comes home for Holidays, my friends and I will always gather and listen to stories about how fun the secondary school boarding house experience is and I swore within myself that I was going to do everything within my power to convince my parents that I truly deserved to attend a boarding school . My plans failed when my mum told me I was going to attend a mission school not so far from our house, I felt bad because that meant no experience of turning Milo into candies, no sneaking in of Noodles into the school hostel, no opportunity to cook noodles with iron, pour water on a “wicked” senior student’s bed or pretending to be sick so that you are permitted to stay back in the hostel while some of your friends are advised to stay behind and watch you. There were lots of things I wanted to explore.

I went to the mission school grudgingly until the day that We heard in the neighborhood that Harry, the boarding house student who always shared stories about secondary school escapades with us had been molested by a senior male student and his mother had sworn to make sure that the school ends operation .

The news was that the school hostel master had walked in on an older male student sodomizing Harry, when Harry was questioned, he told the authorities that this wasn’t the first time Senior “Chike” (real name withheld) had molested him and told him that if he dares to tell anyone, he will be killed.

As a young child, I didn’t understand what that meant but later I got to learn from a classmate in my school that the act is called homosexuality act and that girls in most same sex boarding schools and even mixed boarding schools engage in such acts.

No group of people feels the need to satisfy curiosity other than teenagers. They are eager to try new things and see results for themselves. While in high school, I’ve heard boys telling themselves the white chalk had the tendency of making one high and I’ve seen quite a number of them blend chalk and roll it inside white papers. Teachers would always complain of high usage of chalk not knowing that some students were actually sniffing it, this became substance abuse until the school switched to the whiteboard interactive system . Teenage hood is a period where Kids need adequate guidance so they do not fall into wrong hands. Unfortunately, most parents/ guardians are burdened with so much work and most teachers in the boarding house are not well experienced in matters relating to teenagers. Needless to say that the guidance and counseling departments in most Nigerian schools are obsolete hence the students can only turn to their fellow students for advices

Photo credit: Google

While the Boarding house has its own distinct advantages we can not ignore the disadvantages which are outweighing the advantages.

I remembered my expression when a friend of mine “Glory” (real name withheld ) told me that girls in her school ( A very popular same sex boarding school in Ilorin) commit abortions with clothe hangers and all they had to do was to stick the hanger up their vaginas and that was all.

My first question was asking her how the girls managed to get pregnant in an all girls boarding school .

Male teachers sleep with them now and you can bribe the security men to let you sneak out in the night”

My heart skipped at the mention of male teachers, I had been to the school before and most of these male teachers looked old enough to be my grand parents, I didn’t want to imagine a kind of situation where a 14 or 15 year old addresses a man of 46–50 as her boyfriend cause whaaaaat ?

Even as a day student, I witnessed the harassment of Junior students by the self acclaimed senior students and we dared not complain to the school authorities. The school I attended did not encourage any form of bullying as senior students who were caused engaging in such acts were severely punished but that didn’t mean my friends in other schools were left out of this menace.

I remember that day a senior student asked me to fetch water for her, I told her I was sick , she got angry and told another student to fetch water for her and pour it on my bed

. — - Funmilayo

A senior woke up one day and decided that her idea of fun was to torment a new student who just came in . Told me to go and collect a book titled “My journey will never end “ from another senior student . When I got to the supposed senior, I was directed to another and then to another until one senior decided to pity me and told me that there was no such book. That was when the name of the mystery book settled in my brain. Well, my journey wouldn’t have ended if not for the senior who chose to have mercy on me .

— - Tope

Boarding schools are wonderful, they help in shaping and preparing kids for the future . Kids from broken homes, polygamous homes especially find havens in boarding schools as it serves as an escape from reality. Parents who are also busy get to find an haven for their children . But we can not overlook the menaces involved due to the goals of satisfying teenage curiosities which has led some to being full blown molesters, substance and drug abusers and different anti-social behaviors.