I walk slowly, but I never walk backward

Kabesa Middle Secondary School

The 16th US President Abraham Lincoln is said to have labelled: "I walk slowly, but I never walk backwards". Nicely said.

But I was taken aback when my school management wanted to walk backwards. Few teachers who attended the GNH workshop initiated SBIP and through this programme, we came across a topic: Child-Friendly School (CFS).  

Under this topic, the sentence read: The CFS should have a proper water supply and good sanitation.

Seeing the topic to be pertinent to discuss in the forum, our assistant Staff Secretary known by the name Kuenzang threw a bold question, that remained unanswered many times.

"We say GNH. We speak CFS. We now understand that CFS should have safe drinking water and good sanitation. But, whenever there is no water in the school, we announce children not to visit the toilet for defecation and go elsewhere. Why can't our school jointly extract some solutions?

"Why can’t we buy an empty barrel to store the water and use it when we are in short supply?" suggested a volunteer teacher Thubten Sengye from England.

"Our school is gifted with a constant source of drupchhu a few metres away from said Sherab Tenzin, the Staff Secretary.  So keeping in mind the factor of sustainability, the school might see the possibilities of buying an electric motor to solve it at our own level”.

Before he completed the lines, the Vice Principal bulldozed his own words in the meeting.  Clearing his throat, he begins, "While buying an electric motor is expensive and non-feasible, we might have to discuss who will volunteer to donate a drum to store the water?"

"Volunteer?" growled the gang of teachers. Many laughed. Few suggested what about SDF? Some sternly asked, should it mean that we continue encouraging children to sit in the bushes?

We were sitting in groups. Our Science group laughed aloud when one of my friends remarked: "In the 21st century, it might be only our school that still prefers to adopt and adapt the practices of an Old Stone Age".

I am not being inflammatory. This writing is not trying to defame or criticize their leadership. But sometimes, it really makes us think why they are not able to move with the pace of time. This had been a piece of the problem that always nagged the attention of the whole school.

For so many times, this issue was raised but suffered countless death without any resolutions.  

Whenever there is a short water supply in the school, our children would be found trying to hide in the bushes like an early man engaged in the process of hunting. As I see those innocent faces running to find a space in the shrubs, it makes me really think why are people afraid to walk forward, no matter how fast or slow it is.

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward." Martin Luther King Jr.  www.goodreads.com