Tag: Reminisce

If memories are what life is made of, then for alumni of Ilesa Grammar School, a part of their life has be immortally recognised in a book. The book titled, The Story and Memoirs of Ilesa Grammar School, is written by Olaleye Falore, who ironically, did not even attend the school.

Based on heavy research, the book traces how the founding fathers of the Ilesa Grammar School – Egbe Atuluse Ile Ijesa (Ijesa Improvement Society) – made sure the school was established in 1934 with 21 boys who passed an examination conducted on January 18, 1934. Though, Ilesha had its first primary school, St. John’s Primary School, Iloro, in 1888, for 45 years, schools in Ilesha did not go beyond primary level. The Egbe saw the need to establish a secondary school, to among other things, cater to Ijesa indigenes furthering their education without the additional expense of going too far from home.

Titbits such as choice of location of the school, the appellation of whether it should be ‘High School,’ ‘Grammar School,’ or ‘College’ and how Rev. M.S. Cole, who was supposed to have been the first principal, was ‘hijacked’ and convinced to be principal of Oduduwa College, Ife, on his return of a reconnaissance trip to Ilesha. With facilitates that would be considered crude by modern day standards, Falore tells the story of the humble beginnings of the school. Some pictures of early school buildings also promise to evoke memories in those familiar with the school.

While, it set out to cater for Ijesa indigenes, the school later metamorphosed into a boarding in its early years, attracting students from diverse ethnic backgrounds and regions. Falore notes that at that period, tribalism and ethnicity were not  decimal on the Nigerian fabric. Most likely, the regimented lifestyle provided discipline and ensured camaraderie – the sort, usually noticeable amongst people who spend a lot of quality time together.  

In telling the story, Falore deploys copious interviews he had with 68 alumni, former teachers and administrators of the school, many of whom are in their twilight years.  And these interviews provide lucid recollections of college days both from the students’ perspectives as well as from those of the administrators. The mood is felt from these interviews such as that with Phillip Umeadi, SAN, (Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria), who attended the school between 1945 and 1950.

‘It was very exciting,’ said Umeadi, an easterner, crossed the River Niger for the first time to attend Ilesa Grammar School.

‘It was more of fun to me; meeting people from different background. The boarding house was full of some miscreants from Lagos who were handed over to Rev Lahanmi by their parents or guardians for inculcation of discipline into their psyche.’

The author also captures pranks of students in a chapter titled, Students Were No Angels.

A particular incident tells of a student of the 1965/69 set, O.A, sighted in town by the vice-principal during school hours. The principal made a note of checking on the boy immediately he got to school, only to meet the boy already in the school by the time he got back. The trick was that he had entered the boot of the vice-principal’s Peugeot 404 car and hitched a ride back to school.

Alighting unnoticed, O.A. quickly removed the red cardigan he was wearing and keeping a straight countenance, walked in sight of a visibly perplexed vice-principal.

The vice-principal asked: ‘Were you not the boy I saw in town just now?’

‘I, Sir. No Sir,’ replied O.A.

‘But, I saw you just now?’

‘Not I, Sir. It couldn’t have been me,’ asserted O.A as he walked away from the vice-principal and headed for his classroom to join his mates.’

The chapter contains various hilarious recollections of jokes, anecdotes and pranks which are the stuff school reunions for old students are made of.

The book also gets the views of staff – both academic and non-academic. And the modifications each of the 17 principals to have steered affairs made to shape Ilesha Grammar School to its current shape is detailed in chronological order in a chapter titled The Principals of Old. One gets to know, for instance that the pioneer Principal Rev Canon E. C. Doherty (1934 – 1936), who was famed for wearing academic gowns to assemblies on Wednesday mornings, took the school from a rented apartment to its permanent site by its second year of existence and that the second principal Rev N. O. A. Lahanmi (1939 – 1953) exhibited kindness to indigent students, allowing them to continue at school without paying the fees.

That Falore has documented moments of Ilesa Grammar School will no doubt be appreciated by a large number of old students, many like Alhaji Lateef Jakande (former Lagos State governor), Prof. Oye Ibidapo-Obe (former University of Lagos vice-chancellor and present vice-chancellor of Federal University Ndufu Alike, Ikwo), Chief Sonny Odogwu (Ide Ahaba of Asaba and an insurance magnate), Dr. Dimeji Alo (Director General Chief Executive of Financial Institutions Training Centre, Lagos) who later became prominent members of the society.

This is captured in the glowing testimonies of some of the interviewed old students.

‘What I’m today is due to the Spartan discipline which I got from my parents and which was continued at Ilesa Grammar School,’ said Hon. Justice Kayode Eso (1940 – 1944), a retired Justice of the Supreme Court.

Former Chief Justice of Nigeria Justice Hon Justice S. M. Alfa Belgore (1951 – 1956), an old student who wrote the foreword of the book, said, ‘If I were to come to this world again, I would certainly want to be a student of Ilesa Grammar School. It is the best school in the world, you know. No regret.’

While many non-alumni may not agree with such assertions, the author, with presentation of fluid prose based studious research and interviews, has managed to evoke a sense of nostalgia of how Ilesa Grammar School became a cherished memory for those who walked through it.