Facing threats for being brilliant!



To girls, being brilliant is a thing of joy and unleashing ones unimaginable potentials; my story is somewhat different!



I've always wondered why being brilliant could make me face difficulties and challenges in relating with classmates, some school teachers and lecturers and in worst cases facing threats in school. Sometimes, I get almost drowned in trying to figure out why exactly some things happen to me...because \"you're too brilliant most people wouldn't open up opportunities for you\". These are some of the responses I get when some people find it exceptionally important to explain what others think about me and why I might to continue to struggle.



While my parents always got my back to make sure I put in the best I can to my education, some negative forces would always be in school confronting me even when i did nothing wrong, laughing out so hard when I give the right answers in class and even make sure I don't get the necessary information regarding any material for study or assignments. Most of the times when I sit back to relax and think about the kind of traumatizing experiences I've had I become more scared about what the future might hold and what other girls in my situation are facing in Nigeria and other countries that do not give any regard to the education of girls and women.



Sometimes, I find it very difficult to even relate my secondary school experience to anything, just wishing it has passed and nothing of such kind will happen again. I went to a missionary school \"saint louis\", seen as one of the best in my state which is Kano, and being an all girls school ideally one would think there would be that bondage of sisterhood. Unfortunately, I did had to be strong enough to survive.



Unlike other schools, alot of reading was done, so every year students from Saint Louis got the best opportunities to secure slots in universities and become the most successful even outside Nigeria; primarily by possessing a good knowledge of grammar and good command of English language. Thus, when I stepped into the university I thought I had left all the bad experience behind, but I might not have been fortunate enough because Bayero University was also a place I would learn things the hard way.



Really, during my first semester my level coordinator wasn't surprised with my result because I passed through one of the best schools. Later during my subsequent to final year, I began to have issues with other male and even female collegues because they feel I shouldn't know what I know. But, how can change that? Unknow what I already know? Is it even possible to erase that which I know from my brain? Certainly if doing so is possible, then I would've erased maybe half to survive that tough situation. This is how I managed to finish up my degree with one of th best results in my department.



As a mandatory step to every Nigerian graduate, one is expected to serve the country for one year after graduation. Being a graduate of mass communication, I went to a radio station to serve. One of my lecturers also tried to give me his few words of advice then, he said \"when you go there, do not tell them what you know\". I heed the words strongly, but before I even knew, news was circulating that a new corps member has been recruited, \"do not teach her anything if not she'll proper within a short time\". One could imagine how poisonous such words could be to my mind, as a young girl who has a dream to pursue. 



Meanwhile, my parents were very much keen to knowing my experience in the new environment but it was still thesame. So my father decided that I enroll to get another a higher degree, and in that I emerged the best student with a first class.



Lately, I've also enrolled to get another master of science degree in journalism where these problems are not soon to end. Sometimes, when I present papers in class I get alot of questions and critics from alot of my colleagues, but when others do they're always being appreciated and get accolades. But, this hasn't in anyway dampened my morale or enthusiasm for being a writer and a motivational speaker to inspire many brilliant and strong girls out there to unleash their inner selves. I feel there is another dimension of girls education that is yet to be touched and this is why I decided to give a glimpse into a little part of my world..



\"Education is the only way to unleash our potentials and explain to the world who we really are.\"

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