Frustration at schools

Dewan Chand,

Suva

My grandchildren attend a prominent Nabua school. They were very excited to go back to school and meet their friends and teachers as they were bored with home learning and the confined environment.

When they arrived at school they were very excited to see a pleasant and an inviting school environment.

However, this euphoria soon changed into despair as they were ushered into filthy classrooms and asked to clean their own desks and chairs. Many children had come unprepared to do this so they used their handkerchief reluctantly. The school had not bothered to get desk and chairs wiped in advance as months of dust had collected on them!

The experience wearing masks constantly in this summer heat was suffocating indeed. Children found it hard to breathe and constantly pulled their masks down.

However, teachers kept shouting and asking them to put their masks on. Tempers were flaring as the children’s nostrils, nose and face became itchy.

There was no such thing as social distancing as students were crammed into the same class size.

They had hoped that the class would be split into two groups and given morning and afternoon tutorial sessions. But nothing of the sort happened.

At the end of the day the glum faced children returned home and related the horrid stories to their mother. In frustration she rang me up as children refused to go back to school which had become a hell hole!

Could the Ministry of Education, Heritage & Culture seriously look into these complaints and find a solution. Dual sessions for classes seems to be a good suggestion. We certainly do not want our schools to become super-spreaders of the deadly virus.