How teachers were used, abused and made fools of themselves

“They told us to check out for irregularities in this year’s exams,” my aunt, a Deputy Center Coordinator for High School Exams said this at a recent family gathering. “How Ironical!” She stated as she served us tea, leading to heavy laughter’s flying around the room. “Why?” I asked, bewildered, frantically searching with a toothpick for the irony or the ‘joke’ because clearly there was one. There had to be if everyone was laughing like that.

A large part of me also wondered why my aunt or anyone else would bother to prematurely end a conversation without caring to know whether or not I had understood it. This was evidenced by the way she immediately moved on to the subject of her new plants in the garden. I dearly hoped it was not too late to revisit the exam irregularities issue. “Isn’t it obvious?” she declared, placing the thermos on the brown wooden table as she tightened the lid. “On one hand, they brand us worthless. They say no to our demands unblinkingly.