Graduation at Singapadu

Last week, there was was a mass graduation ceremony for the kelas 6 kids at Singapadu. I say “mass” because in this village, there are 5 elementary schools- Sekolah Dasar no. 1 to no. 5, and in the schools, they have kids from kelas 1 till 6. So kelas 6 is like the primary 6 level in Singapore, the system’s just about the same, except minus all the nonsense that stresses out kids that age.


All of us at Banjar Saraswati were invited to go because the library we’re building (ya ya...it’s almost finished...) is in one of the schools, that’s SD 2 Samu, and the other is the one we’re conducting the reading program, that's at SD 4 Belang.

Er. What? Where? Too many names? Well, Singapadu is the name of the village, Samu and Belang is the name of the banjar, sort of like the sub unit of the village. Each of the banjars here have a school. Get the picture?

The graduation ceremony was true blue Balinese, with each school putting up a dance and music item.

P

Some of the kids attending our reading program got prizes! Top 3 in their level! Let me explain this- They’re not getting the prizes cos they’ve attending the program...but, it so happens that these already smart kids destined for the prize are attending our program! Get it?


Unfortunately though, the adults had to go spoil it all...by talking too much! Remember how we had to sit through those loooong and boooooring talks in the school hall? To maintain our sanity, we’d be forced into waging rubber band propelled paper bullet wars...only to be singled out and punished...wonder, who’s fault??? Oh, but what matyrs we were then...hehe...

Why adults have to talk so much in events like this, I don’t know...some more talk about the most uninteresting topics. Then thank this VIP for gracing the event, thank that big shot for something else...like the kids care! Maybe it’s just an adult thing to do, talk much and talk like you know better. Well, now most of us are adults, hope we all know better than that.

At this graduation, there WAS one saving factor. Though the adults talked a lot, the kids were allowed to talk also! So everyone talked, nobody listened, but when the chap on the stage ended his talk with “Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om”...all the kids yelled back in reply “OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI OM” too! Funneee...!

After this stage, those who have graduated will go to SMP- Sekolah Menengah Pertama, the lower secondary level. (After SMP is SMA- Sekolah Menengah Atas, the upper secondary level) It’s holidays for them now, and new term starts in July. In the new term, the library at Samu will be fully functional ☺ finally…