Back to school

TODAY, January 13, 2020, schools (primary and secondary) will open for academic year 2020 and thousands of students will be drawn towards their respective institutions.

The roads will be full of traffic and there will be excitement all around. Children eager to reach their schools, parents eager to send them to schools and teachers eager to receive the students in their school.

A sort of pandemonium will prevail the first day as teachers will rush about to lead students to their respective classes, Parents will leave their loved ones behind.

Some not so willing class one students will cling to their mother’s apron string and shed tears. But soon this will be over as children enter classrooms and meet their peer group and the atmosphere explodes into mirth and laughter.

A new journey has begun for teachers and students. They will reach their destination in November/December when annual examinations will take place and finally the school holidays will have begun again.

During school holidays children would have visited their friends and relatives, some would have travelled abroad and some would have taken tutorials or simply hobby classes.

Parents must have been busy planning for the next year by buying uniforms, shoes, bags, books and other school needs.

Old shoes and uniforms were discarded as children could no longer fit into them. So parents had no choice but to buy new ones. This is the nature of things if you have children who go to schools.

Thanks to government policy on education as this has enabled thousands of them to seek higher level of education through free education policy, subsidised bus fares, scholarships or student loan scheme.

This has been very innovative and has had farreaching effect on the moTHE rale of students, parents and the community. We are certainly living in good times and the sky is the limit for those who want to excel in academic achievements.

Teachers have a vital responsibility to carve out a bright future for thousands of these children in their charge. Teachers can make or break children’s future. We are fortunate to have a well trained cadre of teachers to look after our children. May I wish students, teachers, parents and school committees every success for 2020 school year.

God bless.

DEWAN CHAND

Donu Place, Namadi Heights, Suva