Nabua Secondary School Teachers Among the Unsung Heroes of Our Nation

The teachers at Nabua Secondary School in Suva are among our unsung heroes – volunteers who have sacrificed their time to give people hope in life.

Many of the students they taught and will teach this year are getting another chance, another shot at achieving their dreams.

At one point in their lives they were heading into an abyss of hopelessness. Now they have made the turnaround and if they keep working at it, they would catch the education bug that will motivate them to aim for higher learning, graduate and qualify for rewarding employment.

We all know what it means. Jobs mean security, stability, reasonable standard of living and generally a better quality of life.

This is the potential impact that these teachers can create for these mature students. The Matua programme at Nabua gives the students a new lease of life. Without it, they may have very little to look forward to a future

The programme is for students, who missed out on completing their education for many years, but returned to study for Year 12 and Year 13 examinations. It is not only the programme of its kind in the country, it has survived because of the compassion and love of the teachers for their fellow Fijians.

One of the selfless teachers is Rajnesh Lingam, who would also take weekend classes to help the students without any remuneration.

The acting assistant principal and English teacher admits that his quest to deliver education to Fijians is his motivation.

Such acts of selfless service bring joy and satisfaction not only to the students, but the teachers and their families who support the programme.

Perhaps, the icing on the cake, was the 100 per cent pass rate in English. That’s an incredible achievement for these students and their teachers.

They have proved that there is no barrier to education and if they have the desire and willpower they can achieve anything.