Back to school 📍… or not!

This school year has barely started and I already know it’s going to be an interesting one.

My brother took his sons to school on Wednesday instead of Thursday. 🤭

I can never understand why schools start mid week, is it a UK thing?

I did the same thing a few years ago, so perhaps it runs in the family. 😅

Anyhoo, he eventually sent a false back-to-school picture of my nephews to the family group chat with the caption:

“Eze does not go to school.”

🤦🏽‍♀️

Death by Dad jokes.

I’m sad to report that that definitely runs in the men in my family. The struggle is real.

If you grew up in Nigeria around my time, you might remember Eze Goes to School. There was even a sequel, Eze Goes to College.

Long after I’d finished shaking my head and rolling my eyes at my brother’s terrible joke, I found myself thinking about Eze.

As a child, I just remember a boy who desperately wanted to go to school.

As an adult, I realise how sad his story actually was.

He lost his father, his family struggled to afford his education, yet somehow this little boy was determined to go to school,

And I found myself wondering:

Why did Eze want it so badly?

What did he think education was going to give him?

A different life? Freedom? Choices? Or was he simply a curious little boy who wanted to learn?

Then another thought hit me.

There are still children today for whom going back to school isn’t about new shoes, oversized uniforms, school-run traffic or parents getting the date wrong.

They’re simply NOT going back.

Some work. Some can’t afford to attend due to incapable parents. Some are unwell. Some may never properly enter the education system at all.

And suddenly my brother’s silly Dad joke wasn’t quite so silly anymore.

Then I thought about the people who wrote Eze Goes to School.

How the authors wrote a book they may not have expected to take over the country for decades.

Did they have any idea that decades later, Nigerian children who grew up reading their orange book would become adults, have children of their own, and still remember Eze?

What a legacy for a writer to leave behind.

Eze eventually made it to school.

He even made it to college.

And somehow, all these years later, he’s made it into my family’s WhatsApp group. 😂

And does anybody else remember that radio or NTA song that went something like…

🎵 “Join us, work with us, we are on our wayyyy… education for all, in the year 2000…” 🎵

If you remember that song, please let me know in the comments because I need confirmation that I didn’t make it up😭 I think it was a party campaign anthem.

But seriously, for some children, “back to school” is still something they can only wish for.

If there’s a child within your reach whose story you can change, please help them write a different ending ❤️

See you next Friday for more Mbōk. ☕