Flag parade in a Lao Primary School

When I was in primary school in Singapore, I was one of the flag raisers. I took a lot of pride in raising the flag during the school morning parade and was particularly good in timing the flag to be raised to the apex exactly when our anthemn is trailing off to " . . . . puraaaaaa". Cheap thrill and stupid joy, I know but I was an easily contended kid. I also loved to be a blackboard monitor and enjoyed to be the one beating the chalk dust off the dusters at the end of each day. I don't know why I like squatting by the steps and beating chalkdust off dusters but my friends always wanted to do it also. It was fun in an odd way to see dust fly. I think primary schools in Singapore don't use dusters or chalkboards anymore.

Anyway, I mentioned that I wanted to do something nice for the Lao people so I bought some noodles and condensed milk and gave it away to the disabled centre as well as some primary schools. When I arrived at a primary school, they were already lowering the flag for the day.

Notice the rows of students with their smart caps saluting the Lao flag. No PA system of course so everyone had to sing the Lao national anthemn. The rows of students with smart blue caps were apparently the "model" class for the week. They listened to their teachers and did well for the class tests etc. For their efforts to be good kids, they get to wear spanking nice caps for the week. In addition, before the flag parade, the principal also announced the names of "model" students who had done well in subjects such as Science. The model student got to choose between different presents. usually a colouring pencil, pen or crayon.

The school is not very well refurbished of course as you can see from the uneven painting. More than 40 students squeezed into one small classroom and some do not even have chairs. They are using chalkboards still but the chalkboard is so worn with use that the chalkboard is actually almost white. When I left, I saw a student diligently beating the dust out of a couple of dusters on the steps.

Ahh. The good times.