The feelings of the students on leaving their parents, homes and villages for boarding secondary schools include feeling sad and nervous.
4.1.1 Feeling Sad
Most of the year one and two students felt sad when they were about to leave their parents for the boarding secondary schools for the first time. Fifteen out of 16 students said they felt sad when they were about to leave their parents.
This is illustrated by the following comments from some of the year 1 and year 2 students.
Year 1
Ross says: “When I am ready to leave my parents, I felt sad because I will leave my parents for the first time to come and live here by myself for the next five months”. For some students, they have to travel to other islands and not only that but they have also experienced the change of life from being a rural person to an urban person or vice versa because of the location of their boarding schools. Mary, who comes from a rural area, was accepted to do her secondary schooling in an urban boarding secondary
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school and this is her first time to leave her parents and village. She elaborates:
When I am about to leave my parents, I felt sad because it was my first time to leave my parents and village in a rural area to come to another island to live in a boarding secondary school in an urban area by myself.
On the other hand, students who come from urban areas and are now attending boarding secondary school in rural areas are also facing problems. This is the experience of William:
When I am about to leave my parents, I felt really sad because I will not see my parents for a longer time. I am going to stay far from my parents as they are staying in Honiara [capital] on another island.
There were students whose parents are living quite close to the boarding secondary school that they are attending. This is the experience of John, who comes from an urban area.
When I was about to leave my parents this year, I somehow felt sad even though my parents are in town. To live in a school as a boarding student will be a new experience for me. Therefore, I have the feeling of excitement at being away from my parents and at the same time feel sad.
Year 2
For some students, it was their first time to leave their parents to spend five months in school before visiting them again and they had to travel to other islands to attend schools. Ann elaborates:
When I was about to leave my parents to come to this boarding school last year from another island, I felt sad because it was my first time to leave my parents and to come and board in this school for five months.
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There were some students from rural areas who were feeling sad to leave their parents back in rural areas and also feeling lonely and frightened to travel alone by boat for a number of days to reach school. Peter explains his experience:
When I was ready to leave my parents, I felt sad to leave them because I really loved them. My province is the most remote province in the Solomon Islands and it took three days by boat to reach the capital, Honiara, where I will be attending a boarding secondary school. It will be my first time to travel alone as well as to leave my parents and my province for the first time so I was feeling sad and frightened.
Some students were accepted to a Provincial or Community High School in another island or province; therefore, those students knew that they would be alone. This is Luke‟s experience:
When I was about to leave my parents, I found a big difference in myself, I was feeling sad and found it difficult to leave my parents to come here to live by myself. I also felt sad because I will not see my parents for a much longer time and I do not know any student here as I come from another island.
The results of this study show that the majority of the students who come from towns and villages that are quite far from their boarding secondary schools expressed only negative feeling of sadness when they were about to leave their parents. This does not reflect previous studies where students expressed both positive and negative feelings when they were about to leave primary schools for secondary schools (Anderson et al., 2000; Brown & Armstrong, 1986; Cox & Kennedy, 2008; Galton & Wilcocks, 1983; Graham & Hill, 2003; Lucey & Reay, 2000; Measor &
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Woods, 1984; Mizelle, 1999; Phelan et al., 1994; Schaverien, 2004; Stradling & MacNeil, 2000; Ward, 2000; Zeedyk et al., 2003).
For most of the interviewees it was the first time they lived apart from their parents. There were students who came from the urban areas and were attending schools in rural areas and those from rural areas attending urban schools. Although the students were asked to recall their experiences when they were about to leave their parents, all they talked about was missing their parents and homes. The results may or may have been different if the students had been interviewed while they were still in primary schools.
The results show that only few a students whose homes and villages that were quite close to their boarding secondary schools expressed both positive and negative feelings when they were about to leave their parents. This is supported by previous studies where students expressed both positive and negative feelings when they were about to leave primary schools for secondary schools (Anderson et al., 2000; Brown & Armstrong, 1986; Cox & Kennedy, 2008; Galton & Wilcocks, 1983; Graham & Hill, 2003; Lucey & Reay, 2000; Measor & Woods, 1984; Mizelle, 1999; Phelan et al., 1994; Schaverien, 2004; Stradling & MacNeil, 2000; Ward, 2000; Zeedyk et al., 2003).
86 4.1.2 Feeling nervous
Some of the year one students felt nervous when they were about to leave their parents for boarding secondary schools. A comment by one of the students illustrates this. Tom explains:
When I was about to leave my parents, I felt nervous because I am thinking of whether I will be able to cope with the life of this [boarding] school or not...I am thinking of what will happen to me if I might not manage to live to the life and the expectation of the school, for example like [doing] work session and following the school rules because it will be different from the primary school that I have attended.
While a lot of research found that the students used various terms to describe how they felt at going to high school with scared and nervous being the dominant terms (Johnstone, 2009), the Solomon Islands students did not. Feeling nervous is not a dominant term but rather feeling sad. This is possibly because of the situations of the boarding secondary schools in the Solomon Islands where most schools are located far from most students‟ homes and villages.