Despite being affected academically by Tropical Cyclone (TC) Winston that did not stop Alpana Gran to attain the highest award in school – the Dux award.

The 13-year-old, who had lost her school stationary in the cyclone, was named Dux on Tuesday during the Vunisamaloa Sangam School prizegiving ceremony in Ba.

“I feel happy and excited because I worked very hard for it,” she said.

Not only is she the Dux, Alpana also claimed third place for the Year 8 level.

“I thought I wouldn’t get the award because I came third but it’s all in God’s hands that he has allowed me to receive this Dux award,” she said.

“The cyclone had affected me a lot because we had lacked behind but we all managed to complete our work. It damaged our classrooms and books and we had to be moved to study in the iTaukei room.”

The students were fortunate to receive stationary from donor agencies.

The aspiring doctor plans to complete her secondary education at Xavier College in Ba, and hopefully further her tertiary studies at the University of the South Pacific.

Minister for Education, Heritage and Arts Mahendra Reddy, as chief guest, said the first step to education began at home.

Mr Reddy said: “I urge all parents to start education from their homes.

“Start talking about values and virtues of your own culture and your own society so that once your child graduates out of the high school system, that student is fully packed with values and virtues, which is the foundation of any society.

The minister said the support and motivation from parents and teachers towards the students was important.

“What we need from our parents now is to motivate and support our children and to share the ownership of education with our school teachers,” he said.

Edited by Naisa Koroi

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