Its rained early in the morning and the streets were in a mess, and the schools reopened
for another academic year. However, for the students these were minor details
as they met with old friends and made new ones at school. It was a day for
parents to slip into old routines of preparing breakfasts and ensuring their
kids reached school on time.
For Shiba Rodrigues the prospect of
sending her children to school brought a sense of relief. She said “It was all
about waking on time and being on my toes as I prepared their breakfasts,
ensured they got out of bed on time and packed them off to school when the
school bus was at the gate. During the holidays, we all slept late, woke up
late and it was an entirely different rhythm. I am more at home when the
schools are functioning. I like the sense of rhythm now. My kids love to spend
time in school, meet with friends, make new ones. They were in fact ready two
days before the school reopened”. For Riya the first day was a very good
experience. She said it was great to be back with old friends and to make new
friends because there were several new admissions this year at the St Andrews
ICSE Vasco. The seventh standard student loves sports and is a second-year
student in classical dancer and a black belt in taekwondo. The rainsensured
there were puddles all over the place which she said was a source of much fun.
For her brother Ryan who is in the third standard, it was great meeting old
friends and making new ones. He said “I have a new teacher in English but I
hope to do better in Hindi which I don’t like”
Gordon Mendonca laughed heartily when asked how he looked
forward to the start of a new academic year. The father of two said his kids
who were in the 8th and 10thstandard acted as partners in crime. He said “We
have not purchased any games for them but they go behind our back and hack our
phones and download games. Haha, it was crazy and now thankfully they are back
at school”.For his daughter Angel, this is her first year in high school and
she said “I would like to focus on my studies. Today was great, despite the
rains, I met all my friends and made new friends”
Jill Rodrigues said her kids were super excited at the prospect
of going back to school. She said’ I have to ferry my kids in opposite
directions. My son was excited at the prospect of traveling in the rain and the
prospect of a new class teacher. My daughter was pretty calm and it was great
to see her happiness when she saw her new teacher in grade one. For me
personally, it is about falling into a schedule of alarms, breakfast and taking
them off to school”.
There
are students, teachers and headmistresses. Headmistress Morena of the Govt High
School in Morpilla said the first day was very good and she hoped this year
would be very good like the previous four years during which the school
achieved 100 percent pass in the 10th standard. She also wanted to participate
in several activities to ensure her students capabilities were enhanced.
