Tunde the Truth Teller: Choosing Integrity Over Shortcuts

It was exam week at Hope Foundation School, and everyone in Primary 6 was feeling the pressure. Tunde had studied hard. He liked Math, and even though the questions were getting tougher, he was ready to give it his best shot.

But as he walked into class that morning, he noticed something odd. A few of his classmates were huddled around a notebook. It was the answers! Someone had smuggled in a copy of the questions from the day before.

“Just look quickly before the teacher comes,” one of them whispered. “Everyone is doing it.”

Tunde froze. His heart pounded. He looked at the book, then at his friends.

He could take a quick glance. No one would know. He wouldn’t get caught. But then he thought about something his mother always told him: “Doing the right thing isn’t always easy, but it’s always worth it.”

So he shook his head. “No, I’m okay. I studied,” he said quietly, walking to his seat.

The others shrugged and closed the book. The test started, and Tunde focused hard. He didn’t get everything right, but he felt proud of every answer he gave.

Later that day, the school principal came to their class. “We received a report that some students had access to test questions,” she said. “Anyone involved will be questioned.”

The classroom went quiet. Tunde looked around. Some students looked nervous.

After school, a few boys from his class walked up to him. “Why didn’t you say anything? You could’ve saved us,” one of them said.

“I didn’t cheat,” Tunde replied. “I just did what I knew was right.”

For a moment, no one spoke. Then one of the boys said, “Maybe you were right. I wish I had done the same.”

What Can We Learn from Tunde?

Tunde made a hard choice—to stay honest when it would have been easy to cheat. That’s what integrity means: doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.

In life, people might offer you shortcuts—ways to get ahead unfairly. But when you stand for honesty and fairness, you help make your school, your family, and your country better.

Fighting corruption doesn’t start when you’re an adult. It starts now—with small decisions, like not copying homework, not taking what isn’t yours, and telling the truth.

So be like Tunde: a truth-teller, a brave thinker, and a leader who chooses what’s right over what’s easy.

Because that’s how change begins—with one good choice at a time.

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