I attended Boarding School out of My Free Will

Most times when I hear about people being boarders in secondary school, it was not their choice. It was a decision made for them by their parents/guardians. This was not my experience. In my case, I asked my parents to allow me to attend boarding school. In my eyes, boarders seemed to be having a swell time. Having their own set of provisions consisting of milk, sugar, Milo/Bournvita, garri, groundnut, butter, and cabin biscuit. I was green with envy!

You sometimes would hear harrowing tales of wicked seniors doling out harsh punishments to juniors or pupils walking long distances to get water for bathing. I hear that this is a thing of the past in modern boarding schools. Contemporary boarding schools are very comfortable, offering a wider variety of meals and snacks, serene study environments, and doing laundry for the students.

What is a Boarding School?

A Boarding School is a type of school which provides students residence, meals, recreation and other facilities for a certain academic term. Students live in room/rooms or dormitories and they follow their daily activities on the premises or campus of the school.

Boarders is the common term used to describe boarding school students.

Types of Boarders

• Full-term boarders only return home at the close of an academic year.
• Termly boarders live in school each night of term, going home during their half-term holidays. They may also go home on exeat weekends.
• Weekly boarders spend their weekends at home. For most children, this offers the best of both worlds as they get to enjoy school during the week then relax at home with their parents at weekends.
• Flexi-boarders do everything that the full or weekly boarders do apart from sleeping at school. They are required to stay overnight at school a few times per term.

Getting into Boarding School was Work!

I remember my father asking me to write out ten reasons why I wanted to go to boarding school. I filled out a sheet of paper with my reasons. I can’t recall exactly what I wrote. It was probably along the lines of wanting to be independent, self-reliant, learn to take care of myself, be punctual for school, and of course, study more as there would be fewer distractions. It appears my reasons convinced my father.

My first try to get admitted into boarding school in JSS 3 (junior secondary school three) was an abysmal failure. I was playing in my school’s sports field during exam period when I was summoned to the principal’s office for an interview. The principal was decidedly not impressed with my rough appearance and me owning up to the fact that I had been playing in the field when she asked me where I had been. She informed me and my mom that I was not the sort of candidate they were looking for in boarding school. You really can’t imagine how upset my mother was with me that day.

Thankfully, my prayers were answered when I was permitted to become a boarder in SSS 2 (senior secondary school two). I guess I got carried away and became so enamoured with boarding life that I flopped my exams in the first term. My parents considered pulling me out of boarding school but opted not to when I assured them that I would sit up and do better.

Throwback to My Boarding Experience

Boarding school was a really long time ago (about 2 decades ago) so my memories are somewhat fuzzy. But I do remember that I was a crybaby at first and I was homesick a lot. Little things made me emotional usually leading to tears. The good news was I eventually adapted.

Boarding school taught me routine and punctuality – making my bed, doing my assigned chores, observing prep (time to study).

Not too long after becoming a boarder, I remember returning to my dorm room after the holidays to find that my mattress had vanished. Only my mattress was stolen in the room. I hunted high and low for the mattress but never found it. I had to make do with two flat old mattresses that were donated to me by friends.

I remember trying out rub and shine (you only brush your teeth, wash your face, armpits, hands, and feet). I did it once as I was running late for school one morning. I decided it was not for me as I felt very uncomfortable until I was able to take a bath that day.

I got used to taking cold baths in boarding school as we didn’t have hot water until much later. Even then, I could not be bothered to wake up early or join a queue to get it. This habit of taking cold showers has not worn off to date. At some point during the harmattan season, I became acclimatized to the cold from having cold baths and so I stopped wearing my cardigan. I got into trouble for this when my housemistress informed my mother that I wasn’t wearing a cardigan during the cold weather. I guess she thought my parents were negligent in their duty of providing me with a cardigan. It made my poor mother worried for nothing!

For the most part, I was a model student until it came to food. I smuggled in prohibited foods such as noodles and spices. I remember the days of soaking noodles in cold water, draining the water, spicing it, and devouring it. Or crunching on the noodles like biscuits from the pack. Looking back, it wasn’t a healthy lifestyle, but we had to make do.

I lost weight in boarding school as I couldn’t eat some of the meals served in the refectory. Plus, nothing compares to my mother’s cooking. However, I do recall some of my favourite meals in boarding school – rice and beans with fish sauce, yam and stew. At some point, I used to add my (smuggled) spices to some of the foods I didn’t like, to spice it up.

I remember the days of soaking garri (granulated cassava) with tons of milk, sugar, and groundnut. Or breaking up Oxford or Yale cabin biscuits into a cup of liquid milk and sugar or buttering the cabin biscuits or munching it plain with groundnuts. Sighs! Those were the days! I can’t say I want to relive them though.

The acceptable tool for ironing was a charcoal iron. At some point, I abandoned ironing completely as I disliked ironing. I would fold my uniform and place it between my mattresses, and I do believe it came out straightened.

My friend, Ebele and I would sometimes stay up late after lights out to do our laundry. We laughed, gisted, had misunderstandings but we remain friends 20 years later.

One of my favourite memories was watching the 2001 Indian melodrama movie, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…, as a boarder with my classmates. It means Sometimes there is joy, sometimes there is sorrow. I consider it one of the greatest Indian movies of all time.

The End

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PS You can watch Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham… for free on Amazon Prime by clicking the link below. This version comes with subtitles in several languages. Please let me know your thoughts about the movie once you’ve watched it. Thanks.

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Calling all my fellow boarders to gather in the comments section. What was your boarding school experience like? Horrible? Bittersweet? Amazing? Any regrets? Would you like a do-over? What one special incident will you always remember about life as a boarder?

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