Teachers need to step out of the typical teacher-student relationship and be more of a guardian to children, says Education Minister Premila Kumar.
She said this while addressing teachers at Adi Cakobau School last week.
Mrs Kumar said many students and their families were still reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“So the children are coming back with the mental health imbalance and you need to work with the children,” she said.
Mrs Kumar said teachers would need to have lot of patience with the students —— guide them, talk to them, and deal with them just like friends —— so they could openly share their issues.
“And do not just close the door on them, you know, that typical teacher- student relationship, maybe you need to step out of that role and be more of a guardian to the child.”
Mrs Kumar said Year 12 and Year 13 was very crucial for students and she asked the teachers to pay a lot more attention to them. She also encouraged the teachers to ask the students to get vaccinated.
“ACS is always known for couple of things, first one is that ACS produces leaders, national leaders and it is obviously the teaching and learning that takes place in a school.
“And I know ACS provides a balanced education, education in every sense of the word to a child — so you believe in holistic development of a child. That’s why ACS students, they excel in sports as well and we’ve seen during national games or during any inter-school competitions, the students from ACS they do very well.
“And that is the fighting spirit that ACS is known for and I would like to see that fighting spirit amongst the teachers and students so that the students, despite COVID-19, they’ll be able to excel in their studies.”
