With a united voice of hope and a fervent will to excel and raise the school’s performance, students of Holy Family Secondary School, assured the Minister for Education, Mr Filipe Bole, that they will do their best in the upcoming external examinations and increase their number of quality passes.
A near resemblance to renowned students’ psyching-up for inter-school rivalry, students called out “E RAWA!!!” (literally meaning “it can be done”) after the Minister challenged them on whether they could raise their performance in the external examinations this year.
The same sentiments were echoed by staff and students of Labasa Arya College, Waiqele Secondary School. Bua Central College, Principal, Mr Bijend Singh has put in place strategies, which he and his staff hope, should lift the standard of performance in the school.
For the past month, the Education Minister Mr Filipe Bole, has been visiting schools in Tailevu, Nausori and Suva schools
This week, the Minister visited four schools in the North.
During these visits, the Minister has been stressing the importance of attaining quality education, at the same time, motivated, encouraged and inspired teachers and students to raise their standard of performance in school, in particular, improving the number of quality passes in the two examinations- FSLC and FSFE.
The Minister reminded students of their responsibility towards gaining a good education, which requires living a disciplined lifestyle at an early age.
These include attending classes, heeding teachers’ and parents’ advice and working hard at school.
The Minister also encouraged students to seek teachers’ assistance and ask questions when concepts taught are not clear.
The “culture of silence” has its merits in the Fijian and Indian setup; unfortunately, this should not be encouraged in the school setting.
Students need to open up and ask questions for it is only through asking questions, where one gets to understand incomprehensible concepts at school.
The Minister hopes that through these visits, mindsets will change for all education stakeholders- from teachers, students, parents, and even school committees.
It is time to raise performance in schools, as this is an opportune time to remind students of their role in moving our nation forward.
The Education Ministry is banking on our present school children, to obtain a good education, and develop our country so that we are not dependent on overseas consultants to build our roads, set up our hydro-electricity, etc.
Next week, the Minister will continue visiting schools in Suva and Naitasiri; all with the same motive- to spread the good news of raising quality performance at secondary schools.
Filipe Bole
Minister for Education, National Heritage, Culture & Arts, Youth & Sports, Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment