Former students of RA secondary school give back |24 August 2020
Students of English River secondary school will kick off the third school term for the year with newly touched up classrooms and a restored medicinal school garden, after a group of past students rallied and got their hands dirty on Saturday, to carry out the refurbishing works.
The six former students who constitute the P9 of 1987 Committee were joined by a small group of volunteers, educators and a group of students at the school and joined hands to touch up the classrooms with paint and to give some much-needed care and attention to the school’s small medicinal garden, all at the cost of the committee.
By 9am the team were kitted out and armed with paintbrushes to touch up the classrooms, before heading to the garden where they tended to the medicinal plants, giving them a fresh refill of compost and manure, among other odd jobs.
“This is the first activity which we as a committee have organised where we are extending our help and giving back to the community,” member of the committee Lindy Rene said.
The committee which has been active for a while and who rely on social media platform Whatsapp to remain connected have in the past organised activities targeted at students from their year as well as an activity for educators from their school years, but hope to collaborate with other committees of the school for projects of a bigger scale.
“We would like to materialise bigger projects. For instance, the school’s management has made it known to us that they would like a mural painted outside the school and it would be great to be able to partner with other committees from different school years to make it possible,” Ms Rene said.
“This is but the first of many activities which we are planning to give back to the school, a key institution in our society. And while most of us have moved away from the region and do not have our own children going through the school, we want to show our support,” Cecile Chetty, also a member of the committee said.
Asides from Saturday’s activity, the committee is working towards providing the school with a photocopier machine by next term, commencing August 31.
In future, the committee also hopes to organise talks and other activities geared towards addressing the issues of discipline and academic attainment within public schools.
The accompanying photos by our photographer Joena Meme show the team in action on Saturday.
