Watch videos of now and then: School nerves over for Tumelo
The Advertiser recently revisited Tumelo’s school and found the learner is now perfectly at ease in his classroom - from which he escaped on the first day of school!
Do you remember the Goedehoop Primary School learner Tumelo Mabuya (5), who was filmed and photographed by the Advertiser, hysterically crying, kicking and clutching onto his mother on his first day of Grade One?
According to his teacher, Thandiwe Shabalala, Tumelo is one of the top performers in the class.
“I think he felt a lot of anxiety about his first day at school, but now he feels more settled and performs well academically.
“Though a bit shy, Tumelo is more attentive in class, behaves appropriately with a high level of involvement and participation in class activities,” Shabalala said.
Now happy to be back at school:
Tumelo started grinning from ear to ear when he saw the Advertiser enter the classroom carrying a camera, as he remembered what had been captured on his first day of school.
The learner said he wants to finish school and study to be an aeronautical engineer.
“I want to repair aeroplanes. I will buy my mom a pizza and a car and then buy my father a bicycle and a burger,” said Tumelo.
The first day of school was a terrifying ordeal for Tumelo, who could not understand why his mother saw it fit to leave him with people he regarded as strangers.
Watch the video on the first day:
He repeatedly ran out of the classroom, crying hysterically, when his mother, Florence Mabuya, tried to leave.
There was a particular point where Tumelo attempted to run out of the schoolyard, prompting his mom to ask two of his senior schoolmates to pursue him.
He had to be dragged back into the classroom, where his teacher finally managed to calm him down.
The boy also indicated that he would only remain at the school and come to the party on condition that the mother gives him money. His mother eventually had to give him the money and hastily leave the premises. -@MthuphaFanie
