Challenges of teaching
SOMETIMES, to instill strict discipline in students, teachers tend to be disciplinarians.
And there is the general thinking that "strict" teachers would automatically be 'strict' with their own families and children.
Despite being born into a family with two generations of "old school" teachers, life for Reginald Gani was far from being "restrictive".
He grew up surrounded by grandparents and parents who were understanding teachers.
"We grew up like every other child," he said.
"We had fun. We were free to do whatever we wanted, free to choose what we wanted to do and I guess our career paths had to merge somewhere."
Mr Gani was born in Navua but spent his entire life in Nausori.
He attended primary school at Krishna Vedic School, Dilkusha Boys School and Lelean Memorial School in Nausori.
After secondary school, he went on to attain a diploma from the then Fiji Institute of Technology (FIT) and then, in 1998, a diploma in applied computing, after which he started working in the private sector.
He worked in the private sector for a while before turning to a career field his family was known for.
Mr Gani started teaching in 1999 at Lautoka Muslim College where he spent three years before joining DAV Boys for nine years.
In 2011, he was transferred to Dilkusha High School and in 2016, he became the head of department for computer studies at Vunimono High School.
"I come from a family of teachers, two generations of them. My brother and I also joined the teaching profession.
"Now, I've been teaching for 24 years and along the way I kept on studying. I initially only had a three-year break when I started teaching and from then on, I've been studying every year.
Mr Gani currently holds a post grad diploma majoring in information technology systems from University of the South Pacific (USP) and a post graduate diploma in education from Fiji National University (FNU). He hopes to complete his masters in education this year.
He said he had experienced his fair share of challenges while teaching technology.
One of them was teaching with lack of resources.
"I would have personally preferred to have a child per PC, unfortunately there were situations where we had three children per PC but thankfully over the past decade or so, schools have stepped up.
"Principals have understood the need to have technology present in schools for their children so in the past few years, we made sure there was one PC per child, unlimited internet services and that any form of education where internet was needed was not disrupted.
"Nurturing our children, it's not easy for the kids. They are taught by five teachers and they have to meet the expectations and understandings and perspectives of five different human beings so we have to give them understanding as well.
"They come from different families, different cultures, different backgrounds, and they come to different people with different backgrounds so it's a bit difficult for them."
He commended parents for standing by their children and assisting teachers in addressing any shortfalls in a child's education.
Mr Gani looks forward to watching more of his students graduate and succeed. by SHAYAL DEVI