This year's NV Cewu Higher Primary School Grade 7 class received a heartfelt farewell at a function held in the Hill Street Public Library Hall last Friday.
This year's NV Cewu Higher Primary School Grade 7 class received a heartfelt farewell at a function held in the Hill Street Public Library Hall last Friday.
Inspirational messages, words of gratitude and bittersweet joy were all around as teachers, pupils and members of the school's Governing Body came together to say goodbye. School principal Andile Ndyolashe told the young leavers that there will be challenges on their road to success, but he said that education is the key to obtaining success.
“There will be hard times, and I'd like you to stick to your education. We want to see doctors and teachers,” he said. He also said that the pupils were lucky to have come this far. “Some of you are brought up by your parents, some are brought up by their grandparents and get some get support from the government,” he said.
One Grade 7 pupil, Lisakhanya Jora spoke on behalf of her peers, and talked about the bittersweet joy of moving on from one stage of school. “This is a day of joy. To me it's a day of sadness too, because we are saying goodbye to our family. This is the beginning of our journey," she said.
She then encouraged her classmates to make the most of the education they have received thus far. "Now is the time we decide what we want to do. We don't want school drop-outs, and we hope that we will pass Grade 12 with flying colours,” said Lisakhanya.
Guest speaker, Lindile Somnandi, a Chaplain at Rhodes University, advised the pupils to face the future with confidence and vigilance. “You should base your confidence in God. There's a decay of moral fibre in this country, but if you are confident you will be able to deal with those challenges,” he said.
