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As always, at the end of the year, every preschool in Swaziland holds a graduation ceremony. It is a happy day where children and parents gather to see their children perform and show off what they’ve learnt at preschool. And of course they dress up in their graduation gear and receive certificates.
The end of the 2018 school year marked the 12th year of success at Matjana Preschool. And the graduation ceremony was better than ever before.
The event was well attended and many important people from the area came, including the Member of Parliament. Local parents and community members were also there. Preschool teachers from other preschools and a headteachers from a local primary school were also there.
The graduation started at 10:00 am, when the Matjana kids entered the preschool classroom doing a nice grand march. Then, one child asked the others to sing a song and pray because every gathering in Swaziland starts with a prayer. After that, there were lessons taught by two of the kids, one about shapes, colours and letters and the other about road transport.
“It was so thrilling to hear kids teaching fluently and openly to the public without being shy,” Teacher Swane said.
They all went out of the classroom again and entered parading one by one. As each child entered they said their names, and a few things about themselves, like their age and sex. They said all this in English, showing their parents some of the new language skills they had developed at preschool. Some students dedicated their parade to their parents, thanking them for taking care of them. Others dedicated it to the teachers, security guards, cooks, co-ordinater, community and their colleagues.
Then, the girls went out to change into luvadla (traditional skirts) to perform ingadla, the Swazi dance for girls. They also did an exciting drama where they were talking about child abuse whereby there was a child who was abused by her stepmother got helped. After the play the students performed a poem titled Our lovely School Matjana Preschool.
Also boys went out to change and they danced traditional dance for boys, sibhaca, when they came back in. This was an outstanding performance. Thanks to teacher Qiniso who provided them with the drum beat.
The school likes to give thanks to Matjana Primary School headman who was the guest speaker and presenter of certificates. He emphasized that the kids should be encouraged to wear gowns again when they graduate from universities.
The last and most important part of any event in Swaziland is refreshments. So we closed and the kids and parents went to eat food which was prepared by the school committee.