Question: There was a riot in your school resulting in extensive damage and the Ministry of Education ordered your school to be shut down. Write a letter to the Commissioner for Education, explaining the causes of the disturbance and appealing for the school to be reopened.
Note before:
This is a formal letter. The examiner will be looking for the following distinguishing features of a formal letter.
Address – 2
Date – yes
Tone – formal (that means no “how are you?”, “how is your work?”) in the opening section
Title – yes (that is, Letter of Appeal, Letter of Complaint, Request to Change Signatory, etc)
Closing – full name, “Yours faithfully”
Signature – yes (formal letters have to be signed)
Lightway Academy
Plot 540 Cadastral Zone A1
Festac Town
Lagos.
24th June, 1999
The Commissioner for Education
Government House
Ikeja
Lagos.
Dear Sir,
APPEAL TO REOPEN LIGHTWAY ACADEMY
My name is Favour Michael. I am a student as well as the Head Boy of Lightway Academy, Festac Town Lagos. I write, on behalf of the student body, to humbly appeal for your consideration to reverse the order to shut down our school due to the disturbance that occurred in the school three weeks ago.
The agitation by the students was a result of the series of misfortunes that befell the school within a short period of time.
The school was in the middle of practice for the annual inter-house sports competition when one of the students collapsed during the track and field event. He was rushed to the school’s sick-bay, but to everyone’s disbelief the nurse was nowhere to be found.
There was information that she had gone to the market. To make matters worse, those who tried to administer First Aid could only locate two sachets of paracetamol tablets which was useless to someone possibly suffering from dehydration.
The second incident was even worse than the first. On the eve of the disturbance, three students started stooling uncontrollably in the night. When the school authorities were alerted, they chose to accuse the sick students of sneaking out in the night to purchase unhygienic roasted plantain by the roadside. They said this was the cause of their ailment.
The school’s management failed to consider the likelihood of food poisoning from contaminated food in the school’s store. When the students heard that an additional seven students had become sick with the same symptoms all 1,500 of them trooped to the staff room to protest. And that was when the stampede which destroyed properties and injured some staff members occurred.
The students did not mean to be violent or destroy properties. We were only afraid for our safety. We admit that we were wrong and hereby tender our unreserved apology to the Ministry of Education, the Management of Lightway Academy and especially the injured teachers. We have collectively vowed to never allow such an ugly incident manifest again.
We therefore appeal to your good heart as our father in education, to temper justice with mercy and lift the closure order placed on our school. This will enable us to return to continue our education and avoid truncating our hopes and dreams.
Thank you, sir, as we look forward to your consideration.
Yours faithfully,
Favour Michael
Head Boy, Lightway Academy
Now that you have read an answer to the 1999 WAEC question on writing a formal letter to the commissioner for education appealing for the reopening of a school after some disturbances, you can also check these other formal letters and essays from previous WAEC English examinations