Ballantine Memorial School students happy and relieved to be back in school

After being away from school for 195 days, students of Ballantine Memorial High School are happy to be back for face to face learning.

School Head Girl Sera Bulewa says she is relieved to be back because being a final year student it was important that they return as soon as possible so they can progress to the next phase of their studies.

Bulewa says the big advantage of being in school is that the teachers are always physically present to assist when the students are stuck.

She says being the Head Girl of the school she regularly communicated with her classmates during COVID-19 who were facing a lot of challenges.

Bulewa says the one of the biggest challenges of online learning was network issues as sometimes their zoom classes would be disrupted due to poor network connection.

Deputy Head Girl Serei Janet says she had to go back to the village when school was closed and mobile network was a big issue when attending online classes.

Janet says there were times when she had to walk up a hill to attend online classes.

Year 13 student Raijeli Drose says with both her parents not working due to COVID-19, the biggest issue for her was getting money to buy data.

Drose says she often had to miss classes because of this and adds it is good to be back.

She wants to become a nurse after completing her studies.