Farewell Teacher (I’ll Batter You”) C R A Cole
There was near crisis in the Bo school in 1946 when with barely three months to the Cambridge School Certificate Examination, the equivalent of today’s West African School Certificate Examination WASCE and the Junior Cambridge Certificate which would be the equivalent of today’s Basic Education Certificate Examination BECCE. Teacher L J Pratt who had almost single handedly taught prepared pupils for the latter course and the first set of boys for the former was transferred to the Prince of Wales School in Freetown at the beginning of the !946 school year which for the Bo School ran from mid February to mid December. Teacher G E Davies and Glen Caulker joined the school that year although both were confined to teaching English. The school’s only Biology teacher Olumbe Bassir had received a Nuffield scholarship to read Science at Liverpool University in the United Kingdom. Thus we were left with no Maths or Biology master. It was then that Mr. Christian Robert Abioseh Cole (in photo), the father of Christian Cole (Bishop) Junior joined the school staff. He was an Intermediate Bachelor of Science degree holder from Yaba to teach Mathematics. Because of the serious shortage Teacher Cole also offered to teach Biology and British Empire history for both Junior and Senior Cambridge classes. I don’t believe that teacher Cole was a History or Biology teacher in the true sense but because of the school’s almost desperate situation his offer was welcomed by Pa E B Williams the Principal. I (was then in Form four and one of teacher Cole’s pupils. He was a good teacher his stuttering notwithstanding and always had an interesting story behind his subject headings. One of the anecdotes I remember well was his account of the exchange between her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the first and one of his courtiers Sir Walter Raleigh, an alleged special favourite of the Monarch who also introduced Tobacco to England. The story was that as smoke rose from Sir Walter’s lighted tobacco, his servant fearing that his master was on fire threw a bucket full of water over him in order to save his life. it was said by teacher Cole that Sir Walter hesitated to make his feelings directly to the Queen directly and instead his approach took a poetic nature thus, “Fain would I climb but I fear to fall;” to which her Majesty replied “If thy heart faileth thee then do not climb at all.
But teacher Cole had a weakness which may be attributed to his dyslexia. He was quickly thrown into anger and would threaten the victim of his wrath with “I’LL BATTER YOU!” And that became his nick name for the rest of his stay in the school. He later entered Fourah bay College FBC then affiliated to Durham University to read Arts. He did not find his examinations easy but on graduating he joined the staff of the Extra Mural department of the college where retired as the Director. I encountered Teacher Cole years later after his retirement from FBC and had settled in his native Waterloo village where after some years he became headman. I visited Waterloo when I was minister of the Interior in President Siaka Steven’s government. My former teacher and I reminisced about those days in the Bo School while he played host to me. I learnt from Bishop Christian Cole Junior that teacher “I’ll batter you” died on May 1 in the United States of America at the grand old age of 95. I extend heartfelt sympathy to his family. May his soul rest in peace and light perpetual shine on him.
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