A high school teacher who trekked the Navosa Highlands for 2 days to deliver worksheets to his students says his source of motivation to go above and beyond is the situation these students and their families are in and their eagerness to learn.
Rajneel Prakash who teaches at Saint Therese of Lisieux College in Sigatoka says some of these students live in villages about 2 hours away from Ba Town.
He says the cost of collecting the worksheets is very high for students from the villages of Nasauvakarua, Nabuabua, Saunokonoko and Natoka.
He says he has trekked to the villages before but this is the first time he has gone right up to the students’ farm houses in the highlands.
The Year 11 Accounting and Economics teacher says he believes no child should be left behind.
He says he hopes the students work hard, listen to their parents and teachers, and are able to one day earn and care for their families.
Prakash says he grew up in Batinikama, Labasa, in a sugarcane farming community.
He says the situation these students are in reminds him of how he grew up and the challenges he faced.
Prakash has been teaching at the Saint Therese of Lisieux College for the last 9 years and is currently pursuing his Postgraduate Diploma in Educational Leadership from the University of Fiji.
