I was a CHANGE MAKER...years ago

On school year 2006-2007, I was a principal of an academy. The school was founded by my family member and it was named after my late brother’s name. when the school had been founded, I was in Kenya for about 40 months.

I came home on year 2005 August. I had a mother when I left, she was the last person I talked to at the airport, and she gave me the note I supposed to pay for my exit at the terminal. I saw her waving her hands to me across the road, because she was not allowed to enter to the terminal. It was like that, for security reasons. I came back home four months later after she died. I didn’t have my new passport to go home when I heard the news. Ethiopian embassy delayed it for about eight months and I even lost a chance to do criminal law in Kaplan University, Fl.

My brother proposed me to go to a teacher’s technical college to do a one year course and to help him in managing the school. It was not my choice, but I went for it to show him what kind of worker I was. Because, this brother of mine and the other, always say; “ We don’t have a sister, that’s been confirmed!”

I did the one year training in six months, I got 16 A+s and complete the course.

I went to the school on the month of July, started helping the secretary at the office. His secretary introduced me to other teachers; most of them lost their interest when they saw me. To make them embarrassed, I was wearing my mother’s Clarc’s sandal with a long skirt which covers my ankle. My hair is always plaited Rasta. Some of them tried to train me how to dress up as a sister of the owner. I finished the first mid semester and all the teachers brought the report cards of the students to me, I was the one to sign on those cards.

The report cards were awesome, the students scored high. It seemed there was no a single student who was not clever at all. I was proud of everyone. I was outside to encourage and congratulate the parents of the students.

Just after mid semester, Christmas was arriving. I picked the book “Christmas Carol” and went to grade six. I asked four students to read the title. All four students were not able to read” CAROL”. Those students got A+ in English reading, spelling and grammar. A kind of suspicion grabbed me the same minute.

I gave the same four students a piece of chalk and commanded them to write “HOUSE”. That was the simples vocabulary came to my mind. I know that even the first grader can spell that easy. But our students didn’t.

I tried them with different vocabularies, it was just sad. On break time, I called my brother and explained everything to him. He came in the afternoon. He’s a layer, singer, composer, script writer, and movie producer, owner of a film and art school…etc. He is a man with many hats.

He called the English teacher and the woman who was the director of the school since it was founded. He told them what I said.

“You gave us three years of report telling us all our students are dynamic. But my sister didn’t see that. Why is that?” asked my bro.

“You know, Miss M see the students from her point of view or she is comparing them with her own language skills, but they’re brilliant. They are the best of any students around other schools in this area. Parents are inviting their friends to bring their children to our schools.” said the teachers.

They always look for excuses to report me to him, so that they get rid of me. But my brother went to every class and saw who was saying the truth. He had a meeting with them.

“You gave the fake report to us, so that we would pay you and promote you the way you want. You’ve been cheating parents by writing fake grades to their children. If my sister was not here, all this go on forever. She came here and uncovers your secrets. You’re all evils. I send my child to school to be educated not to come with me with a good report card. What’s going on in your heads? You cheat our customers, and you cheated us. You were playing games two ways.”

He left the school furious.

The hatred from the teachers towards me grew more than before. I didn’t allow any teacher to come late of to miss his class. The English teacher was the worst of them. He goes to a resort called Langano every Friday afternoon and he skips class every Monday, sometimes also Tuesday. He was a beer guzzler and he couldn’t make it to work. I was the one who covered for him when he was absent. I gave him a warning letter. He and another female teacher had problems to speak on mobile phones in the class. They receive calls in the class and they left their classes to speak with their callers. They were very unprofessional.

My brother started coming to school some days a week. He announced that to other partners. One of the partners were very angry like us, but the other didn’t care. He was cheating my brother and the other partner in cheating with the accounts too. The director was a best friend of him.

When we had exam for the first semester final, the teachers collected the exam papers and brought the result to us. I check many of the exam papers which belong to students who have tutors from our school. The answers were done for them.

Here’s what they did;

The students did the exams with pencils. They don’t mind if they’re correct or not. The teachers erase the wrong answers and they write it with pencils and the kids were earning big marks. Is it not sickening you? I can see big letters written by a child’s hand very firm, it’s almost piercing the paper. They erase it and write it lightly with pencil. And again; if one parent refused to give a tutorial job for the teachers, they punished him or her this way.

“She said; “Her child is clever and she refuse to give me job, I’ll show her.” Their plan was almost like that.

The child of these parents exam papers were “The right answers erased and the wrong answers had been written, so that the parent should know his child was not clever as she thought.

Second semester was there, and I asked all partners to be there for the exam day. Only the accountant who cared less didn’t come that day. We took over the classes and we refused the corrupted teachers from entering the exam rooms. We checked the papers. The grades of the students went upside down. The one on top went down; the one who’s from bottom went up.

The parents of student flooded to my office. Some complained that I hate their child and made him fall. Some argued with me badly. I was threatened by the teachers and some parents. Some parents agreed to sit with me in the office and in the library while their child did the exam again in their presence. I did that including Saturday. They saw the capability of their own children and they thanked me and left. But many of them wanted to see their child on the stage, applauded and receive a present from the school administration team.

At the end of the year, teacher s did everything to hurt me. But I changed the system and we hired a very professional director for the school. Many of the corrupted teachers were sucked. One the new school year, everything was new, just because of me.

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i know a little boy who's not going to school, i mate him by the gate of Hamlin Fistula. hope there are many young children have no chance to get education.. let's lend a hand to them.