Advocacy in the Face of Unjust Punishment

We live in a world where we all need one another to make the most of life. This is our first experience, and no one has lived this life before or has a pre-scripted experience of what they'll most likely face in the next few seconds. So the best we can do is give one a hand to scale through any situation, and this act of showing kindness has been the norm for loads of people, among which I'm one, and today I'll love to share similar experiences that happened earlier today with you.

So, as some of you might have known, I'm a teacher by profession in a secondary school, popularly known as a high school in third-world countries. I went to work today just like every other workday, and our sports week is already approaching. One of the core pieces of information given to the students last Friday was the fact that they should come to school this week with their sports vest and other necessities that will make their exercise seamless.

The thing is that despite such information being given to the students, they weren't expected to dress to school in their sport vest but to carry it along inside their bags while coming. Now most of the old students already know this and don't need to be given more details before they'll know they ought to still dress in their school uniform, have their sport vest in their bags, and be ready to change into it when the time for sport comes. Well, the same isn't the case for the newly enrolled students, who don't know our custom here and came from different elementary schools where once it's a day for sport, then you must dress to school in your sport vest from home.

Without beating around the bush, while we're having a staff meeting after the assembly today, a teacher brought a student into our mist so the principal and others could see how he's dressed in his sport vest, which is against school ethics. Immediately, almost all the superiors and teachers began to lash on the poor boy; they even planned on spending him back home, and this led the boy to the point of tears. I had to quickly speak up on his behalf, saying that he might not have understood the information and that sending him home wasn't the best approach to correcting this mistake.

Before I could say Jack or elaborate on my point by trying to let them know he's a new student, they all turned to me with the same aggressive voice, but I still maintained my stand and told them the boy shouldn't be sent home but instead be enlightened about the school ethics, and I also told them we don't know where he resides, and what if he stays in a distant place? Who would shoulder the blame if anything happened to him on the way home?   So with all of my act of defending him, they simply asked him to come to me because they felt I'm defending him because he was in my class, but when he was asked to go to his class teacher, it happened to be someone else among us, who then told him not to make the same mistake next time and then asked him to go to his class.

I was glad I could help, and the school work continued thereafter, but two hours later, two angry parents stormed the school and demanded why the school had to send the child home and the young boy had to trek a long distance home because he had no transport fare on him, and the parents were the ones who usually send a bike to pick him up after school hours. Since it's not closing, the boy had to trek home, and the mother said he was breathing heavily when he arrived home due to the distance he walked.

When that happened, all the teachers quickly tried to defend themselves and were saying, Who dare send the child home? Apparently another teacher sent a boy home before the other one brought the one I defended at the meeting earlier that morning for this same reason, and when the child pointed to who sent him home, the parents and our superior in school lashed at the teacher. I couldn't help but laugh within myself at their double-standard mouth, but I'm sure they realized after the second incident that I was making sense in my defense earlier.   Well, back to the other boy I defended. I actually didn't know him because I wasn't teaching his class, but he came during break time to thank me for defending him, and I said it's not a big deal, but that he should always put on his school uniform when coming to school, and even if they requested a sports vest, he shouldn't wear it but pack it in his bags.

_{Thumbnail and the other photos were designed and gotten on canva}

So that's about it for now. I hope you enjoyed the read. Thanks so much for your time. Have a wonderful day ahead.