“Ugh, I have tonnes to do. I still have to write a drama script for the annual function, and I was so exhausted last night, I went to sleep without finishing my math homework! Argh!” Zaid groaned, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

“Why don’t you stay back from music class?” his friend, Danial, suggested. “You can talk to Sir Angelo, he’s quite understanding.”

“Huh, yeah, that’s worth a shot,” Zaid agreed.

“Ok, let’s go. The bell just rung, which means we have five minutes to reach the music room.”

Zaid was a bright student of grade five, who took his school work quite seriously. All his teachers had a positive opinion of him. When he requested Sir Angelo to let him excuse from his music class that day so that he could work on his math homework, Sir Angelo knew there must have been a genuine reason and he was not merely making an excuse.

Zaid quickly returned to his class and on his desk, whipped his notebooks out and started scribbling furiously. He loved geometry so he did everything with his heart quickly and when he was done, there was a huge grin of success on his face. He closed his books and looked at his watch! There were still 20 minutes left for him to attend the music class.

Zaid was walking along the length of the corridor when he heard strange noises coming from one of the classrooms. He checked the sign and noticed that it was a classroom of grade four. He peeked in furtively and was shocked to see what was going on inside. A group of three boys were laughing uproariously as they poured water inside their fellow students’ bags. Zaid watched in shock as they went around howling with laughter and ruining other people’s books and stationary.

What should he do, he wondered. There was no one around. He could just keep on walking and pretend he didn’t see anything. Technically, he didn’t need to involve himself needlessly in this mess.

“Yeah, that sounds fair. I should just ignore it. Why make enemies in school? These boys will focus on me if I report them,” he thought to himself, taking a step forward.

But something did not let him move away. His strong sense of right and wrong held him back. He realised that if these boys got away with it, they would become more confident in their ability to pull off such hideous pranks in the future. And the victims would have to deal with the repercussions of the prank, without even having the satisfaction of knowing the culprits were punished.

“I need to do something,” Zaid resolved. But what was the best option? He wondered if he should confront the pranksters directly or get a staff member involved. He was just a year ahead of these boys, not exactly a senior student, so he knew the former option wouldn’t play out so well. The boys could find a way to turn it around on him, or simply run away, and he would have no proof to back his claim.

Zaid turned around and ran to the vice principal’s office, which was just around the corner. The vice principal was busy writing something in a register, but he requested her to follow him quickly as he didn’t have time to explain anything. Zaid hurriedly led the way to the classroom.

Zaid did not stay back to watch what happened next as he rushed to his class. He later found out that the three boys had been suspended for a week and the principal had deducted ten points in advance from their annual exam marks.

The following day, the principal called Zaid on the stage during assembly and applauded him for his bravery in reporting a wrongdoing. She also lectured students on always standing up against harassment or misconduct of any form, regardless of whether it concerns one directly or not. Everyone cheered and clapped for Zaid.

As C.S. Lewis rightly said, “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 22nd, 2023