Form ones were not students

Form ones were not students

Written by: Timothy Makokha

Those were the days when being a form one was like a plague. Several terms were used to refer to this group of learners- form ones, for example mono, school wheel barrow, confused fellows, among many other queer nouns.

When it came to performing of manual work, mono would be given odd assignments like washing toilets, dining hall, all laboratories and library as the rest of students do light duty assignments like picking rubbish and sweeping path ways.

A form four would give a 50cent coin to a confused form one and demand that the young boy bring a loaf of bread and change to the senior student. Some would even force a newly admitted form one to call home using a stinking shoe.  

The form ones’ frequent prayer was that electricity does not go off at night or else they would receive a beating in the dark corridors of the dormitories.  Bully students would take advantage of darkness and tie a cup or a piece of soap at an end of a towel and use it as a weapon to hit innocent students. In case there was no black out for a longer time, these mischievous bully students would switch off the lights intentionally to complete their ill motives in darkness.

It was obvious that some senior students who welcome a form one in the chamber of a dormitory would demand that the new student give them all the pocket money to them. In turn the form would be disappointed as after two days, it would be claimed the money was over and sent the same person to bring more from home.

For example, form three students who were studying Fine Art would a draw a figure of a fresh steaming mandazi and instruct a mono to pick it and hand it to them to eat or else buy five  mandazis from the school canteen as a fine. Someone would just wonder how he could pick an object that is drawn as a real object.

The worst was when a form one enters a bath room and is removed before he finishes applying soap on his body which will then force the victim to wipe himself in hurry or else receive a thorough beating from a senior student.

Before even the bell for morning preps ring, first you could hear senior students shouting, ‘form ones up up’. 

I remember the day when I was still a high school student when the sanitary prefect on assembly addressed the gathering saying, ‘the school principal, deputy principal, teachers, students and form ones good morning?’  It kept me wondering; when does one become a student?

Form two students were the worst when it came to molesting form ones since they still feel the pain of being a form one and would always wish to revenge on the existing victims (form ones).

The worst days were when ball games were held where form ones were forced to be part of the cheering squad; cheering from the front line compulsorily. A few who remained in dormitories could be fished out and harassed before they were allowed to shout for their teams at the top of their voices and vernacular songs whose meaning one is not familiar with.

 One would be forced to shout insults and obscenities to the opponents which would at times end in chaos as the cheering squad for the opponent school would not take some insults lying down. Small mono would hide in the latrine the whole day until the games are over before they would resurface again.  

This is not to mean that all senior students were bad, there were some who could assist newly admitted students in the school by giving them direction and any necessary assistance. For example some concerned students would teach form one students on how to use some cutlery during meal times as well as telling them on how to behave while eating with others at the table.

The end of first year in high school was always received with a lot of anxiety and joy as one feels has come out of class of molestation and impatiently wait to revenge on the immediate group that joins the school.

The good news is that such behavior of harassing form ones is never allowed in schools currently as most school administration would ensure new students are comfortable and well cared for. These little form one students deserve a little shreds of tenderness from the rest of the students in whichever school. 

Love them; mentor them. These form one students are our children or our sisters/brothers.