The duty of a flag Lowerer.

This is my first post for this year, and I was thinking for some time now, that it should be on Flag lowering.

Now more than I want to write about flag lowering, I want to write about Sukayna(my eight year old baby girl) the flag lowerer.

Rushing outta school!!

So what was  it that  was  urging me to write this article? A couple of weeks past I had been to school to pick up my daughter( a very rare happening- but managed as I was not working that particular day).

Sukayna was the first kid to be walking out of the gate, and I was quite curious as to how she was so keen in getting home early. But I did notice that the children who walked out were lined in a queue accompanied by a teacher until the gate, but Sukayna walked even ahead of the teacher.

To know why so- I questioned her, and then she told me, that every day she will be the first one to walk out because she was in charge of lowering the flag. Hence she does not have to queue up and wait for teacher's instructions to go out.

For a Primary two pupil -isn't lowering the flag a huge responsibility? Curious to know what she has to do, I was shooting away questions, to which my girl never runs out of answers anyday. Happy to answer she told me a few things that happen during the flag lowering.

Everyday she gets feedback from her teacher on her performance of lowering the National Flag. In Singapore schools,  every day before school disperses, students gather at assembly point and sing the National Anthem, while the flag lowerer, lowers the flag at medium pace- and that is what Sukayna has to do. Sukayna told me, that sometimes her teacher tells her she was fast, sometimes too slow - and yes of course there is a reason for everything they do. So the reason  she told me next was really funny.

She said that her classmates standing behind her during this process, keep prompting to her to either lower the flag faster, sometimes tell her to lower down at a slower pace- so she finally misses out what is supposed to be right!

Nevertheless  for an eight year old, I really consider this as a big achievement for her age. During our walk back home from school, this conversation with Sukayna brought back memories from my school time, when I was once in charge of raising the flag along with my captain. We had to get the flag up and ready to be hoisted by the teacher in charge of assembly for the week.

This was when I was in  std 9, and every monday used to be a nightmare- because a few time, we have put it up upside down! I know- What an Offense?? Thank God, our principal was kind enough, and did not chuck us out of school. I used to pray for Monday morning rains- when outdoor assembly would be cancelled, and hence flag hoisting too. But to think of it now is real pleasure. And for my princess Sukayna to be doing a similar duty at such young age is far more than PRIDE!!