4th June 2020
MESSAGE BY PRESIDENT MICHAEL D. HIGGINS
May I send my very best wishes to all of you children as you enter the final weeks of your primary school years.
I know that these last two months have been difficult for you, for your teachers and your parents. To those of you who have lost loved ones may I offer my deepest sympathies. Many of you, I know too, are worried about relatives who are ill or maybe lonely. I know, from so many who have written to me, that you are of course missing grand-parents, cousins or neighbours that you haven’t seen for some time.
All of you will have greatly missed being with all your school friends and teachers. For example, the cancellation or postponement of Confirmations, sports days, school concerts, graduation ceremonies and other events which would traditionally mark and celebrate the end of your time in primary school will, no doubt, have been a source of disappointment for so many of you.
As President of Ireland I have been very impressed with the way in which all of you have responded, risen to the challenges, continued to learn at home, working with your teachers and parents. You have found all sorts of imaginative ways to remain in touch with your friends and pursue your hobbies, while at the same time always putting the safety of others, including your relatives and neighbours, ahead of your own wishes and plans. Those are achievements of which you can all be very proud indeed.
While this last term in primary school has, in many ways, been difficult for you, it is my great hope that it has also allowed you to experience something very important about your school days. You have learned that your school is not just a building containing a series of classrooms where lessons are held, tests are sat and homework is corrected. A school is so much more than that.
School is where you have been making friends, working together in teams, discovering your talents and developing them to the best of your ability. School is where we celebrate all that we have in common with each other while recognising and respecting the differences that make each of us unique.
School is where we learn how to be part of a community and, most importantly, how to include others in that sense of community, by being kind and supportive and generous.
School and home are places where we release our creativity and begin to realise our great potential as citizens, and the importance of becoming a person who works with others to make our society a better place.
Although your school buildings have been closed now for many weeks, the fact that you have remained united has shown that there are some things that no lockdown can ever postpone, shut down, cancel or take from you, including the connection you share with your fellow pupils, your teachers, and with all those who have made school and your community such an important part of your life.
In September you will be commencing a new and exciting chapter of your lives during which I hope that all of you will be able to look back on your years in primary school with gratitude, affection, and humour too.
As you now say goodbye to your primary school years, and look forward to your first year in secondary school, may I wish each and every one of you every happiness as you continue your educational journey.
Beir beannacht d’on todchaí
President Michael D. Higgins
TEACHTAIREACHT ÓN UACHTARÁN MICHEÁL D. Ó hUIGÍNN
Dia dhíbh a pháistí. Sibhse ar fad nach bhfuil ach seachtainí fágtha agaibh sula críochnaíonn sibh bhur leathanta sa bhunscoil, seolaim mo bheannachtaí chugaibh uilig.
Is ait an saol atá againn le cúpla mí anuas. Tuigim go maith cé chomh deacair is a raibh sé oraibhse, ar bhur múinteoirí agus ar bhur dtuismitheoirí le linn na hama sin. Daoibhse ar chaill gaolta libh le déanaí, ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón óm’ chroí a chur in iúl díbh.
B’fhéidir go bhfuil imní oraibh chomh maith faoi ghaolta atá tinn nó i mbaol. Tá a fhios agam, ó na litreacha ar fad atá faighte agam, go n-airíonn sibh uaibh sean-máthaireacha, sean-athaireacha , colceathracha agus comharsana nach bhfaca sibh le tamall.
Táim cinnte freisin, go n-airíonn sibh uaibh bhur gcáirde scoile agus bhur múinteoirí. Tá díomá ar go leor díbh, ar ndóigh, toisc, mar shampla, gur cuireadh Cóineartú, laethanta spóirt, ceolchoirmeacha scoile, searmanais fágála scoile agus imeachtaí eile ina ndéantar ceiliúradh ar dheireadh na bunscoile go traidisiúnta ar athló nó ar ceal.
Mar Uachtarán na hÉireann, tá mé an-bhródúil as an gcaoi inar fhreagair sibh na dúshláin seo. Lean sibh libh ag foghlaim sa bhaile, ag oibriú le bhur múinteoirí agus bhur dtuismitheoirí. Tá bealaí nua aimsithe agaibh freisin le fanacht i dteagmháil le bhur gcairde agus chun tabhairt faoi bhur gcaitheamh aimsire. An t-am ar fad, tá sábháilteacht daoine eile, bhur ngaolta agus comharsana san áireamh, curtha chun tosaigh agaibh thar bhur mianta agus pleananna féin. Molaim sibh. Is éachtaí iad sin agus is féidir libh a bheith an-bhródúil astu.
Fiú go raibh an téarma deiridh seo sa bhunscoil deacair daoibh ar go leor bealaí, tá nithe dearfacha le tógaint as b’fhéidir. Tá súil agam gur fhoghlaim sibh rud éigin an-tábhachtach faoi bhur laethanta scoile. D’fhoghlaim sibh nach iad na foirgneamh amháin atá tabhachtach sa scoil ina bhfuil seomraí ranga ina ndéantar ceachtanna, scrúduithe agus ina gceartaítear obair bhaile. Tá i bhfad níos mó ná sin i gceist le scoil.
Is ar scoil a bhí sibh ag foghlaim cáirdeas, ag oibriú le chéile i bhfoirne, ag aimsiú agus ag forbairt bhur mbuanna. Is ar scoil a rinne sibh ceiliúradh ar na rudaí atá againn i gcoiteann mar chomhluadar agus ina n-aithnímid agus ina mbíonn meas againn ar na héagsúlachtaí atá eadrainn.
Is ar scoil a d’fhoghlaim sibh le bheith mar baill consiasaigh de phobal agus, an rud is tábhachtaí, conas miantraí, dualgaisí agus ceartanna daoine eile a áireamh sa phobal sin, trína bheith cineálta agus tacúil agus flaithiúil. Is ar scoil agus sa bhaile a scaoilimid saor ár gcruthaitheacht agus a thosaímid ag traisiú ár gcumas mar shaoránaigh, agus a thuigimid an tábhacht a bhaineann le bheith mar dhaoine a oibríonn le daoine eile chun cuma níos fearr a chur ar ár sochaí.
Cé go bhfuil an foirgneamh scoile dúnta anois le seachtainí, tá sibh aontaithe go fóill. Is léir nach féidir le COVID19 ar bith an nasc atá agaibh leis na daltaí eile agus le foireann na scoile a chealú ná a bhriseadh.
I Meán Fómhair beidh sibh ag tosú ar chaibidil nua, spleodrach in bhur saol agus tá súil agam go mbeidh sibh in ann breathnú siar ar bhur mblianta sa bhunscoil le buíochas, gean agus greann freisin.
Agus sibh ag fágáil slán le bhur mblianta bunscoile, agus ag féachaint chun cinn i dtreo an chéad bhliain sa mheánscoil, guím gach sonas oraibh uilig agus sibh ag leanúint ar aghaidh ar bhur dturas san oideachas.
Beir beannacht don todhchaí.
President Michael D. Higgins