Lockington's Everyday Fiji ... Life Goes On

Education

Many people take schooling for granted. Parents get up in the morning make breakfast for the children and they get ready and all leave home. Many parents leave the educating of their children to the school teacher. When parent/ teacher day comes around and they find out that their children were not doing well, they reprimand the child/ren and tell the teacher off. There are parents who are so absorbed in the social work and religious activities they have committed themselves to, that they forget about their own home. Believe me I know of many homes that are like this.

What we should all be doing is following up on the children’s studies, sit with them in the evenings and ask what they were doing in school and if the child was fine or finding things hard. Parents should also get school rules and talk to the children about it. Behaviour in public and in the bus should be talked about. Help avoid homework hassles by creating a comfortable and well-organized study space for your children, with all the supplies they’ll need close at hand. Enlist your child's help when arranging and decorating the space, so they’ll have a sense of ownership.

I know of an iTaukei family that lives in a little hut in a settlement in Lautoka. From the outside we see a home that could do with a lot of help. There is no electricity and water is from the tank. The home is made of old tin and wood. But upon entering the home I spotted a corner that was decorated, had a little table and a well cleaned  kerosene lamp, not a lantern but a lamp.

The father is a labourer with a trucking company and the mother works as a washer woman.

They are doing the best they can for their son's education. 

Allen Lockington is a self-employed customs agent and business consultant who has regular articles published in Fiji. I thank Allen for permission to reprint some of them in this political blog. They remind us that life goes on, whatever the political situation. And it's good to know that.