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Introduction

Welcome to my blog. It's another week of the story "The Wounded Captain," and in this episode, I will be writing about how Ndopnda went to school
At the end of the story, please visit other episodes for a better understanding of this story.

Ndopnda in School

The idea about learning to read and write gave Ndopnda sleepless nights. He had no problem when the storekeeper was on duty but became scared when he was off duty. He would busy himself in the warehouse doing nothing. He was fond of counting his fingers as many times as possible and repeating the stocks silently with busy lips.

The information he had from the new gardener about adult education and his finding was complete, but he was scared of embarrassment. Adult Education was always associated with old men and women. In all aspects, they were as old as his father and his new wife. He considered himself the youngest person in the school. He often focused most of his attention on
Mama Siwa, who was one of his classmates. Mama Siwa was fifty-three years precisely when she was admitted to school. She couldn't read and write her name but all her six children were graduates. She was the first to go to school and the last to return. This was because of her interest in education. 'What is she going to do with education at her age?' commented Ndopnda. At this stage, Ndopnda needed education to overcome the problem of reading and writing in the warehouse. He didn't think beyond that point.

He was yet to understand that responsibility moved with certain educational attainment. And that education demanded no age limit. Did Mama Siwa also believe that she could improve tremendously upon her
hygienic condition in her home, when she acquired a certain basic education? He thought. The shame he felt about attending adult education classes had ceased. There were two
forces in him. The first was powerful, and the second was weak but useful.

The first force within him told him not to go because it was a waste of time, energy, and resources. Many days, when he prepared to attend classes, this force would speak to him silently, and he succumbed to it by relaxing in his bed. He rarely honoured the second force that persuaded him to attend classes.

But within a few months of reluctant attendance, he was able to write simple words and his name correctly. The improvement encouraged him to make more effort.

The headmistress of the school had put in her best to make sure that they were given proper teaching. She had been a dropout in the Teacher's Training College. She was employed by the Teaching Service Commission and posted to an Adult Education Center where she regularly went for refresher courses. She had put in more effort to convince the commission to promote her, yet there was no promotion for her.

The first set of pupils had passed out successfully. But after that, the rest of the sets recorded the worst examination failure in the area. People attributed their failure to the lukewarm attitude of the headmistress.

She didn't report to school daily and refused to wait and close at the closing hour. Because of her attitude, other teachers followed suit.

The community viewed the headmistress' action with dismay and protested to the commissioner through a letter for her removal. Nobody followed up the issue, and the headmistress wasn't removed, but a reminder written by the community at an interval of one year saw the headmistress out and a new one posted to the school immediately.

During this controversial period, many pupils had capitalized on the low performance for the school First School Leaving Certificate Examinations and had withdrawn from the school.

Ndopnda was fond of the word certificate

He usually pronounced it 'Cerfificate.' He was corrected as many times as possible, yet he pronounced it wrongly.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading to the end. I believe you enjoyed the story. To understand this story better, please do well to read other episodes below.

• Episode 1, Taboo on Playmates
• Episode 2, Hocky the dog
• Episode 3, The Gardener
  Episode 4, The-master
• Episode 5, The gate man encounter with Itina
• Episode 6, Thieves in the warehouse
• Episode 7, The Cook and The Steward Imprisoned
• Episode 8, Reward For Honesty
• Episode 9, The White Master
• Episode 10, The Powerful Strokes
• Episode 11, Abia Becomes Captain