Shonal Sami and his students

31-year-old teacher Shonal Sami says he brimmed with pride upon finding out that his students achieved a 100 percent pass rate in their Year Eight External Exam.

Sami, who has been teaching at Sawaieke District School on Gau Island for the past 11 years, says he was a bit worried when first finding out that the national passing rate was only 67 percent.

However, Sami says he somehow knows that his students will come out on top as they have worked hard throughout the year.

“I was confident that my student would come out victorious because they prepared very well for our examination. In term three, we had a lot of parental support.”

Sami says the students started camping at the beginning of Term 3 of last year.

He says one major area he worked on was trying to bring mathematics up to par, and as a result, all students scored above 60.

Commenting on the low national pass rate, Sonal says parental engagement is important.

“I would like to encourage all the parents out there to keep on supporting their children during the process, during the course, or during the year, and success will follow up eventually.”

Sami has eight students in his class, and he also takes pride in upgrading his qualifications while being on Gau Island for the past decade.