My experiences as a school prefect
The classroom is a noisy place and when the master is not there the children have a tendency to indulge in all sons of mischief. Childish pranks are good but often children tend to quarrel and fight. The more healthy and vigorous the children, the more chances of these fights occurring. To keep the class under discipline a prefect is appointed by the teacher. He becomes an understudy of the teacher only that he doesn’t teach. He can order and command the class. Other students are afraid of him because he can make a report to the teacher or the headmaster and punishment is sure to follow. A prefect need not be a strong hefty fellow. He can even be small built but the teacher knows he is capable of controlling the class. A prefect must be a boy of character, doesn’t take sides, must be assertive and stand by his word. The prefect system has been working well in schools in England and it has been introduced in schools in other parts of the world.
A prefect can help the teacher in many ways. He can bring teaching materials like maps, globes, charts and books to the class. He can collect and distribute notebooks, library hooks and exercise books.
I was chosen prefect. I was reticent and had no gang and was attentive in class. When at the beginning of the term the teacher announced my name as prefect there was hush and silence in the class and dozens of pairs of eyes peered at me. I stood up and marched to the teacher’s table when he made the announcement. There was a mild cheer and I bowed my head and returned to my scat.
As a prefect I made it a point to be regular and punctual. Thank God I was enjoying good health, so there was no need for absenteeism. I chose four of my classmates as my helpers. One to look after the register, the second to look the tidiness of the class, the third to be in charge of the field and sports equipment and fourth was in charge of helping the teacher. I was in over all charge besides looking after the library books and aids. We had many types of audio-visual aids and I took a keen interest in them. I looked after the Bulletin Board to make it lively with news paper cuttings. I would ask a friend of mine who could write in a decent hand, to write the daily news. Thus I tried to make the class a beehive of activity.
Whenever two boys quarreled and fought I tried to reconcile between them by finding out who the first offender had been and making him apologize to the other. There were cases of petty thefts but I always tried to trace the culprit and restore the lost article to the owner. The culprit himself would get his due punishment.
In short I liked the post in which I fared well.
