Teacher sells soup to buy laptops for pupils

Melissa Dwarika -
Melissa Dwarika -

Mason Hall Government Primary School teacher, Melissa Dwarika is determined to ensure that no student under her watch is left behind in the new school term. Dwarika is raising funds to assist eight underprivileged children in her class.

In an interview with Newsday on Thursday, Dwarika said she will be selling soup on Saturday to purchase learning devices as she is worried about children who do not have a smartphone, laptop, or even internet access.

She said, “I would be having a soup sale on Saturday at my residence in Collier Trace, Glen Road in hopes of gathering some funds, based on the outcome and the turnout I would know how much I can assist.

“I am aiming to have the soup available at 11am. We would have chicken foot, cowheel and pigtail, I am giving the option of having mixed meat, so a basic one meat soup is $30 and if they’re mixing the meat, you pay $40.”

The mother of three said the covid19 pandemic has put a number of families under pressure and with this new normal of online classes, a home computer and internet access are no longer a luxury, but a necessity.

“The objective is to assist those students whose parents are unable to afford such due to financial constraints. Teaching forward and having some students left behind, you really can’t feel good as a teacher, it’s an uncomfortable feeling.

“Even if we try to just distribute the care packages, there are students who need to have the face-to-face interaction, they need to have that classroom presence, to me there are those who still would be at a disadvantage. Due to the fact that I have a standard five class, I would really like to continue the work,” she said.

Dwarika said during the first shut down in mid-March when schools were physically closed, she hosted online classes but not all her students benefited.

“Some of them had their mummy’s phone and sometimes mummy had to go to work, and then some had connection issues, so the most we could have done at that time was really reinforce lessons we did prior to the closing of schools but there wasn’t much new concepts that could have been taught.

“My hope is that when I do get all the students onboard with the devices, I could really go ahead and teach the topics left to get them ready for SEA in 2021 when that date is announced.”

Anyone wanting to support Dwarika can call 775-5193.

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"Teacher sells soup to buy laptops for pupils"

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