She Taught, While Her Child Was Sent Home

Some years ago, in one of the schools I taught…
I witnessed something that broke me in pieces.

A fellow teacher — a woman of great dignity stood before her students,
teaching with power, voice calm, chalk steady, as if nothing was wrong.
But behind that strength… was a heart silently bl€€ding.

Just an hour before, her only child had been sent home from that same school for owing school fees that had piled up for multiple terms.
This was a teacher… not a stranger.
A woman who had taught hundreds of children.
Who stayed back to mark. Who sacrificed sleep for lesson notes.
Who borrowed money just to keep her child enrolled.
Still… it was no longer enough.

The school said, “We’ve tried.”
The management had to send the child away because the debt was too much.

So imagine this:
She’s teaching other people’s children…
while her own child is at home, unable to learn.

That image?
It cru$hed me.

I saw her standing there — dressed in a teacher's wrap that I personally helped her wash,
smiling through pa!n, explaining algebra to kids who had never missed a school day in their lives.
Her smile tried to hide the truth — but her eyes?
Her eyes screamed a s0rr0w only teachers truly understand.

Right there in that moment, I did what I never thought I would do.
I pledged half of my salary just to make sure her child would not miss school again.

And when I told her?
She br0ke down. Right in front of me.
Tears fell like a flood. She held my hand and kept whispering,
"God will bless you... God will bless you..."

But that day wasn’t about me.
It was a reminder of how low we teachers have been pushed.
We give everything.
We teach doctors, engineers, presidents, lawyers, yet we can't afford
to give our own children what we give to others.

We carry the future of nations…
with empty pockets and broken hearts.

Dear Nigeria,
When will teachers stop being treated like tools and start being seen as treasures?
When will we be able to afford the very education we provide for others?

If you're reading this…
Say a prayer today for every teacher who is smiling in the classroom
but cr¥ing inside.
May God remember us.
One day, may we reap the full reward of our labour, not just in heaven, but here on earth.
Sha.re this if it touched you!