Umuofia: a Kindred with a Fragmented Identity that Remains Unaware of its Essence and Aspirations, yet is Fervently Devoted to Western Cultural Norms

The subsequent debate following the policy announcement by the esteemed Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu (Esq), serves as a revelation to us, as we are a group characterised by hesitation and uncertainty in life. We are both insatiable and unsure in life, resulting in a lack of clarity about our goals, appreciation for our surroundings, and focus.

What we are forgetting throughout this debate is that when you give the Black race an inch, it takes a mile ahead of you. Based on this actual assessment, I firmly support the honourable education minister's stance on not permitting students in our secondary schools to grow or wear long hair. It is simply founded on this concept, and we are aware of ourselves. It puzzles me why we should continue to act as if we can't deduce what the promptitude could have been to inform the announcement. Don't be surprised to see students wearing wigs on our campuses the next day. It will take no time.

I am concerned, for one thing, that we readily forget past events; we do not bother to investigate what may have caused these tragedies, and if we do, we have implemented no measures to steer clear of future occurrences; and, unfortunately, we behave as if there is no future and generations follow one another.

The boisterousness that these kids exhibit when such advantages or rights are allegedly granted to them cannot be embellished. They, in turn, believe they have arrived, and no teacher dares to confront them. Because if you act as one, you will be stabbed with a dagger or a serrated instrument, shot with a gun, have your house/vehicle/bike stolen/burned, or have your immediate family bear the brand. This is what we are encouraging by rubbishing the policy.

Africans are unique in terms of culture, heritage, customs, and religion, and cannot be Westernised. The irony of life in this chicanery of arguments is that people who oppose the idea will never face the wrath of these deviant children when their control turns into mayhem directed at teachers attempting to instill discipline, which fascinates me. Have you ever thought about a gang of military personnel committing armed robbery and what could have gone amiss? It has been happening in Umuofia, and as a community, we aren't investigating to find out what went wrong.

These theorems, which were mostly proposed by the West and utilised by the people of Umuofia to support our claims that a student's aesthetic has no absolute scientific association with morality or discipline, are shaky from the start. Ab initio, t hose social or psychological theorems do not reflect us in totality and are mostly society-specific, but we are determined to accept them wholeheartedly, despite the fact that we were never the coordinates of their study pieces and are extremely difficult to test with Africans.The Black must show a semblance to own his own circumstances rather than drawing from foreign curriculum, for example. Can you imagine a curriculum without textbooks, and we shamelessly declare it is our reflection as citizens? What a farce!

Nonetheless, I have no personal view about a student boy/girl being permitted to grow or wear long/short hair, but what upsets me is the unfairness in dealing with victims for reasons that are all too obvious to us. When it comes to one, he or she is viewed as a Greek god or goddess, whilst the other is a goat whose meat must be butchered on the board. That is my illuminating fury at the unfairness I have experienced with policy implementers in this country's pre-tertiary institutions.

In all fairness, if students must not be permitted to have long hair or otherwise on campus, it should not be accompanied by sheer discrimination. Who is a goat to have their mutton sliced on the board? What is good for the goose is also good to the gander.

The argument for L1 to be compulsory and used as a medium of instruction should be re-examined going forward. Its application ought to be situational, where cogent discretion must be exuded to either blend the L1 and L2 or adopt anyone to achieve instructional goals and objectives. As a developing country, we must armour our minds and realise the fact that we live in a global village, and the repercussions may be detrimental with such rigidity of a policy.

We have to be honest and appreciate our past and current circumstances in order to have clearly carved and defined goals going into the future. The age of knee-jerk policies conceived and implemented by the erstwhile administration cannot be continued in this regime. Otherwise, how can a minister choose to open a local market centre on his ministry block to sell farm produce? Crazy, right? The reset agenda must be effectively implemented and executed properly!