Waiwalu Ready To Get Back To Class
“It will be harder if there is an outbreak and they have to come back; hopefully, it is safe sending them back to school, but it’s better that they are boarders and not day scholars.”
Wednesday 05 January 2022 | 09:26
Maraia Waiwalu with her son Sikeli Waiwalu at Churchill Park in Lautoka on January 4, 2022. Photo: Salote Qalubau
Schools are open and Sikeli Waiwalu is ready for class.
The Year 9 Queen Victoria School student said he was looking forward to going back to school and catching up with his studies as well as meeting his schoolmates after a prolonged period away.
Sikeli and his brother, a Year 11 student at the school, were accompanied by their mother, Maraia Waiwalu. She was one of the many parents who accompanied their sons to Churchill Park in Lautoka yesterday to wait for the bus that would take them to school.
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Ms Waiwalu resides in Vuda Back Road, Lautoka and said that the resumption of school for students was also a way to get them away from peer pressure.
“I am happy about them going back to school, to be away from peer pressure. Face-to-face is much better than online,” she said.
“It will be harder if there is an outbreak and they have to come back; hopefully, it is safe sending them back to school, but it’s better that they are boarders and not day scholars.”
In a statement released on Monday, the Minister for Education, Heritage and Arts Premila Kumar confirmed that schools would be finalising the provisional enrolments for the 2022 academic year by the end of this month, giving parents and guardians time to prepare their children for the new school year.
“With the last term for 2021 commencing on January 4th, for Years 8 to 13 and January 10th, for early childhood education (ECE) to Year 7, Minister Kumar hopes that students have had ample time to prepare themselves to return to school and tackle one of the most challenging terms head-on,” Ms Kumar said.
She also said the commencement of school this month would see the return of students in Years 12 and 13 to finish the final lap in their bid to successfully sit and complete their final exams.
“On the other hand, students, from ECE to Year 11, will return to school to complete the remaining coverage and revisit concepts covered during remote learning in 2021 so that they are well prepared to move to the next level in the new school year starting in April 2022,” she said.
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