It is encouraging to note that 8235 Year 13 students sat for their first paper in the Fiji Year 13 certificate examination on Monday.
Education Minister Premila Kumar said to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted exam period, dates had been changed in light of Election Day on December 14. The exams for the Year 13 students are being held in 170 centres located around the country and will end on December 8.
The Fiji Year 12 certificate examination will begin for 14,907 Year 12 students in 174 centres from December 1 to 13.
A total of 17,880 students will sit for the Fiji Year 8 examination at 717 centres with an additional four new centres this year, from December 9 to 13.
We encourage support for the education process for our children.
As parents and guardians, we should support and encourage students to study and do well.
We encourage our students to be focused on their performance.
That means setting the base at home.
It means ensuring our children have all they need, including support to enjoy going to school.
It means embracing education.
Let’s remind our children that education provides opportunities to secure a better future for themselves.
Getting a good education can be fulfilling as well as rewarding.
A United Nations regional overview on East Asia and the Pacific in 2011, titled Education For All Global Monitoring Report, highlighted “children’s education opportunities are shaped long before they enter primary school”.
The linguistic, cognitive and social skills they develop through early childhood care and education, it stated, were the foundations for expanded life chances and for lifelong learning.
That is why we must play our part in ensuring our children receive the education they deserve. We are now in the business end of the school year.
This is when students must knuckle down for the end-of-year exams.
This term is about setting priorities.
We all have a great opportunity to encourage our children to set a strong base for a bright future.
Students must, however, be willing to make a difference.
They must be willing to give this term their best shot.
They must have the enthusiasm, commitment and dedication to make that difference in their lives.
In its 2020 Regional Results Report of the UN System for Asia and the Pacific, released in March 2021, the UN notes that ‘as devastating as the pandemic has been, it opens up new opportunities.
‘The unprecedented innovation and courageous responses during the crises reveal a new level of dynamism in Asia and the Pacific which can potentially trigger an encompassing transformation towards sustainable development.’
There were tough lessons learnt at the height of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic which started in April last year.
It is good to have face-to-face classes again for our children, which encourages more interaction in classrooms, and development and growth alongside their peers.
To every student who is either sitting for an exam paper, has already completed one, or who is preparing to sit for their papers over the next few days, we wish you all the best.