According to the President’s Advisor on Education Mr. Ted Borja, President Toribiong is scheduled to meet with students of Palau Mission Academy, a Seventh-Day Adventist Mission school located in Ngerikiil in Airai State. Other schools as time goes on will be scheduled in accordance to President Toribiong’s calendar. “But rest assured,” Mr. Borja said, “President Toribiong will visit all the schools as education is one of his most top priority issues of his administration.”
During his visitation to the schools, President Toribiong urged the students to respect their parents and emphasized good citizenship. “Please stay away from drugs,” President Toribiong firmly stressed to the students. “And practice a healthy lifestyle including most of all your pursuit of academic achievement must continue and than return back to Palau for your homeland and your people truly need you.”In his brief remarks during his visit to Mindszenty High School, he joined them in the course of their Monday assembly in prayer. “This morning’s brief presence of President Toribiong standing with students and singing our national anthem,” said teacher Cita Morei, “made me so proud to be a Palauan and even more energized to be an educator in Palau and much more at Mindszenty High School.”“When one hears the President of our Nation speaking and appealing to our young people to take responsibility for their own learning,” said Morei, “I questioned myself as an educator and a parent asking myself if I am sharing the same vision as our President?” Cita views the President’s visit as most captivating because it brings out in her questions such as… “Am I making a positive contribution to help these young men and women become leaders of this Nation? and… Or am I here just for a teaching job?”At the conclusion of the visit, President Toribiong shared with students of MHS a prayer from St. Francis of “Lord make me an instrument of your peace…”President’s Toribiong’s visit to schools is in line with one of the ten issues of his platform (moving forward with true Palauan spirit) during the campaign that focuses on education and the children of Palau… “Our children must be the first and enduring priority of our government. They deserve the best health care, best education, and the best opportunities. The Palauan children are our most precious resource, and we owe it to them to ensure they reach their full potential because our future depends on them.”
