PRINCIPALS CONFERENCE
MINISTER ECHOES ON HEADS SIGNIFICANT ROLE
Quality of education is the basis for the quality of knowledge in society, says Education Minister Mahendra Reddy. Speaking during the 117th Principals Association Conference last week, Mr Reddy stressed on the crucial role of School Heads and the teachers in preparing students for the contemporary challenges of the global society. Mr Reddy commented that “Schools are home away from home for the child.” He said schools were where the child spends the greater part of his/her day and teenage life. “As such, we are duty bound to protect them, educate them, love them, value them and prepare them for the future,” he said. “The child is the most precious gift for their parents and we must give them that same value. “Every child is a genius in his/her own way and our job is to recognise that talent, polish it and pave a path for the child to succeed thereon.” He thanked all the school heads for their proactive roles during the aftermath of Cyclone Winston and stated that this was a perfect example of modern day leadership whereby leaders went out of their way to take control and ownership of the situation their schools were subjected to, all in the quest to safeguard the welfare of the children. Mr Reddy said that as 21st century educators, it was their duty to back students to connect learning with real life situations and to provide them with the necessary skills to prepare them for success. “As our global economy develops, our need to mould children for new careers becomes even more imperative and challenging,” he said.
“Our role is to talk about the issues affecting the global world with the children. We need to make them aware what these issues can do and what they must do to fight these concerns.
“Issues of terrorism, racism, sexism, abuse, cyber-crimes, adultery, drugs and substance abuse, human trafficking, climate change etc need to be given similar importance in schools so that we prepare our students for a safe and learned future.”