The recent lighting of the Coca-Cola Games heralds students and teachers, parents, and former scholars to the much-anticipated event of term one.
The Ministry of Education is wary of this event and continues to advise parents and teachers to be more vigilant and cautious as far as the safety and whereabouts of children are concerned.
The Minister for Education, Mr Filipe Bole, is concerned at the amount of time teachers, children, and parents put into the preparations. As the major provider of education, the Ministry continues to impress on teachers, parents, and school management that the education of children is paramount to anything else in schools.
There are two things that the Minister wishes all education consumers to understand. First, that at the end of the day, it’s the tangible rewards of education that matters. That means, certificates and good examinations marks from students do count, not the medals won. Secondly, more emphasis on sports preparation and participation is expensive. Cost is not only in monetary value but in time as well.
Time used is defined in team preparation before the game and time recovery after the game because after athletics rugby and netball are up next.
This year three schools from Taveuni, Niusawa Methodist, Holy Cross College, and Bucalevu Secondary are not coming to take part in the Coca-Cola Games. This is indicative enough that bringing students to the games is an expensive exercise.
Meanwhile the Ministry has stopped primary school competitions such as rugby, netball, and soccer from taking place on Friday. Any competition needed to be staged has to be done on Saturday so that families can be involved. Besides, it does not abuse official school hours.
Minister for Education, National Heritage, Culture and Arts, Youth and Sports, Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment, Mr Filipe Bole