It’s time to go back to school today for thousands of students around the country.
We have had a rather interesting school year in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As countries around the world tried to figure out how to get their terms rolling at the start of the pandemic, it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
New cases of COVID-19 in Sydney, Australia for instance earlier this month forced the closure of schools in the city.
Stakeholders have tried to incorporate new ideas, and pulled in innovative processes to ensure children weren’t affected by the pandemic.
It hasn’t gone all their way though, and in many cases, schools have had to fall back on strictly adhering to social distancing rules.
In Fiji, schools have had to draw on safety measures to ensure our children were safe in the school environment.
With Fiji still in containment mode, it is encouraging to note that we have no new cases in the general population, and we have been “clean” in that aspect for a little more than 150 days.
That’s good news.
Let’s keep the status quo, and adhere to social distancing rules.
Today we begin term three, which for exam classes and forms is a critical one.
This is when major exams are scheduled.
This is the business end of the school year.
Our students are expected to be focused on exams.
For many of our urban centres, today also brings with it other issues such as the expected traffic congestion.
This is where our police force will come in handy.
We can only hope people will be considerate while on our many roads around the country.
In the face of emotional responses and episodes, let us stick to the rules that govern road usage.
To our students, we hope the start of another school term brings with it good things.
As we head out to our various destinations today, we can all cut back on frustration and anger by doing a couple of things.
Perhaps we could leave a little bit earlier from tomorrow if we were late today.
We could perhaps consider the fact there are thousands of other parents and guardians, and people commuting to work who are affected by traffic congestion just like us.
Let’s keep a look out for our law enforcers on the road and allow them to do their job to guide us safely through the traffic congestion.
Remember this year has been anything but a normal year for our children.
We can make it enjoyable though for them.
We wish every student a happy day back at school today.
