Aside from making sure that facilities are in good condition and teachers are properly informed of their schedules, schools also make sure that classrooms are all cleaned up and ready to receive students on their first day of school on Monday.
“Teachers and staff are cleaning our classrooms and school yard right now, so we are all ready for the opening of schools on Monday,” Natalie George, a teacher from Airai Elementary School, said in an interview.
“We will have orientation day on Monday to talk about school rules and regulations, get to know the students, where they from and what are their expectations,” George added.
Airai Elementary School so far has 253 students enrolled for this school year, 18 of which are first graders.
Ngardmau Elementary School is also doing the same preparations. Although they still don’t have first grader enrollees as of Thursday, Bitlaol Wasisang, the school’s Laboratory Manager, is positive that by Monday parents will have finally enrolled their kids.
“So far no first grader has registered yet, but our registration is still on going,” Wasisang said. “We usually have around 10 students in first grade. It’s Palauan nature to enroll their kids late, most of the time they enroll their kids during the first day of school.”
Ngardmau Elementary School is expecting to have 60 students this school year.
Mindszenty High School, on the other hand, already has 188 students enrolled for this school year.
“We expect the numbers to increase to 200 plus by Monday,” Nina Suzuki, a secretary at the Mindszenty High School, said in an interview.
“Our facilities are ready. We had the whole summer to fix everything that needs to be fixed,” Suzuki said. “We already cleaned up the classrooms. We are all set for the school opening on Monday.”
Palau High School (PHS) Principal Ibuuch Tomoichi said they are also doing the usual preparations on campus.
“Our teachers already came onboard on Monday to make sure that their classrooms are ready for next the school opening,” Tomoichi said. “We also had our freshmen orientation yesterday.”
PHS has 710 students enrolled for this year, and counting.
Tomoichi added that except for a slight problem with the personnel — about contracts that are not done on time, the usual that they encounter during the opening of school year – PHS is ready for the start of classes on Monday.
If regular schools are ready for Monday, then the Special Education Program is more than prepared.
According to Helen Sengebau, Coordinator for Special Education Program, said, “We make sure that everything is all set and ready for our students on Monday. We have made arrangements with parents of children who need transportation to make sure that they are ready on time.
Sengebau added that they have been coordinating with parents regarding schedules of pick-up. “Because the children cannot go to the bus, they need to be picked up from their homes, especially the ones with severe disability,” Sengebau explained.
The Special Education Program has 179 students registered all over Palau. They have 34 Special Education teachers, from Kayangel all the way to Angaur.
