Page 26 - IB January 2022

Education Education

Fiji teachers prepare for the resumption of school Photo: Fiji government
FIJIAN EDUCATION AND COVID-19

By Epeli Krishan Sen Vakalalabure and Lotarakuita Anand Sen 2021: The pandemic climaxes (hopefully)
Saurara It was during April or in student-speak, week 13, when an
announcement came from the Ministry of Education that all
Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts in the school will close down as the nation prepares to confront its
Harry Potter series notes that time is a mysterious thing and, biggest health challenge since our Independence. This began a
when meddled with, could have severe consequences. cycle of postponing the dates to open school until the Ministry
Three years have passed since the beginning of 2019; a of Education, Heritage and Arts (MEHA) decided it would
year that was to have been for all students in primary and remain close indefinitely.
secondary schools of Fiji, “another innocent year” of classes Even before the wearing of face masks became legally man-
and shared laughter with friends; one that would have been datory, people started wearing them–an expression of fear as
‘littered’ with all those sports hours, short tests and intensive people in Fiji realised the coronavirus pandemic was back in
revision for those sitting external exams. Fiji with a vengeance, affecting all aspects of life.
Yet even with the passage of all that time, Fiji and the When staying at home, an assumption of an average stu-
world are still battling the COVID-19 pandemic, which peaks dent’s day would be: chores, Zoom classes then to do what
and ebbs, disrupting schooling with openings, then closures, was to be done for the day which included going on social
then openings again, but with threatened closures hanging media, watching movies or whatever hobbies that we usu-
above it, in parasitical fashion, all the time. As Fiji welcomed ally have. Some students had experienced traumatic events
2022 and a resumption of school, a third wave of the latest such as the separation of their parents, a family member or
variant, Omicron has hit our shores. Masks have become, once a friend passing away and so on. Breakdowns were bound
more, mandatory and a ban on all handshakes, dreaded the to happen due to the frustration of staying at home or for
most among school aged friends, comes back again. reasons unknown out there. For some of us, the continuity of
doing some things that we enjoyed doing, helped during those
The problem begins times. For many others, adapting to new norms did not come
COVID-19 hit Fiji just as students were finishing off their easily nor quickly, causing much stress in the process.
first term in 2020. Everything went on as usual, until the Zoom classes were of a great help to students who eas-
month of March when students found out that Fiji’s borders ily adapted to learning virtually. For others, it was quite a
were closing and all schools were going to close too. If truth difficult transition to go from classroom learning to an online
be told, most students were overjoyed to hear that, as it platform. The novelty surrounding this new way of learning
meant we would not have much school work anymore. How- had many problems.
ever, as weeks stretched to months, it would become boring Not everyone and not every family in Fiji has computers.
staying at home. There was nothing much to do, but life went Data availability or internet connectivity was a huge challenge
on and with it the adapting to the new norms of experimental with many students opting out from attending the few zoom
living under COVID-19. classes schools organised. To help ease this problem, the Min-

26 Islands Business, January 2022