Shirinda class of ’88 says ‘thank you’ to former teachers.
“Without them, we could not have made it in life …we are what we are because of them.”
The Shirinda Primary School class of 1988 held a 30-year-reunion at the school on Saturday.
Lawyers, social workers and IT specialists, all Shirinda alumni gathered in the school hall in Mamelodi West B2 .
The then Standard 5 (Grade 7) learners reminisced with their former teachers, about their time at the school and caught up with each other’s achievements in the intervening period.
Organiser, Alex Raleswinga said the aim was to say thank you to the teachers who took care of them while their parents were at work.
“Primary school is a foundation stage for each and every learner and our teachers took their time guiding us and preparing us for high school.
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“Without them, we could not have made it in life …we are what we are because of them,” said Raleswinga.
Alumni Mpumelelo Masango said he wanted to make his former teachers proud for raising him to be a responsible parent and credit them for his career success.
“We also invited the current teachers to say thank you to them too for taking care of our children,” said Masango.
He said a reunion was an important platform to invite like-minded former learners to join hands to give back to the school.
“We will be raising funds to plough back into the school and we will involve our former teachers in the planned projects,” he said.
Raleswinga said the idea of the reunion arose at a funeral where some former classmates had met.
“The decision was to get to together to say thank you to our former teachers while they still lived,” he said.
Former teacher Violet Mashao said all had a purpose, “mine is to teach but I never thought it will impact on so many lives”.
“We really appreciate what our former learners have done for us,” said Mashao, adding some had earlier complained she was too hard on them.
“Some of them are lawyers, social workers, IT specialists, plumbers, electricians and businessmen so maybe I didn’t do such a bad job.”
Then principal Irvin Moyane invited all guests to say a prayer for those who had died and were therefore not present.
They too played a big role, he said before addressing his former teachers.
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“My colleagues, I really appreciate your understanding and the cooperation you gave me in running the school,” the principal said.
“Today we are being honoured for our hard work but these learners do not know the tough times we went through to be able to teach them.”
The day culminated with teachers – current and former – receiving gifts and the current learners providing entertainment.
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