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requesting for world class status. This status is granted or measured by the degree of smartness that a city has. In this regard it is therefore paramount not to ignore the significance of cleanliness and hygiene.
In the same vein we are almost close to two months of school on the calendar. The weather has changed drastically from the wet and chilly conditions that characterised the early parts of the year. Now the weather has been very hot or should I say intolerably hot. One advantage of this sudden change of weather is that it is no longer painful to wake up in the morning to attend school, as compared to cold mornings.
However, this weather does not allow one to skip a bath, as has become the norm with some students especially those from single-sex schools. It is something common with school children to “dry wash” as it is popularly coined by the students.
Cool Lifestyle interviewed students from different schools who expressed their opinions on the need to be smart.
Tariro from Roosevelt said: “In this weather even in the morning the water is fairly warm so it is important to make sure we come to school clean. There is absolutely no excuse to skip a bath. If one comes to school without taking a bath it creates an impossible environment for others to learn, because sweat is just an unpleasant odour.”
Reginald from Mutare Boys’ High said: “This hot weather is just impossible to work or concentrate. It exhausts you. On top of that there is always a heavy thick smell in class. I think there are some guys who are not taking a bath, so coupled with the heat it is suffocating.”
Many students in boarding schools normally go for days if not for weeks without seeing the door of a bathroom. This is expected mostly in winter but to others it has ceased to be a case of the fear of water but the fear of bathing.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba, an Indian guru, said: “You cannot be fresh and feeling fine, wearing a washed vest under an unwashed shirt; or, an unwashed vest over a washed shirt. Both have to be clean, to provide a sense of tingling joy. So too, outer and inner cleanliness is but the reflection of the inner achievement.”
In light of this, one teacher from Marondera said: “It is worth noting that most of the students who are clean and tidy in school are also good with their school work.”
She further went on to say: “I think there is an inherent relationship between how someone presents him/herself, therefore cleanliness and tidiness is more than a physical appearance but rather it is a reflection of someone’s mental make-up.”
“As teachers we enjoy teaching students who are smartly dressed and tidy. You even dread to stand next to some students because of their level of untidiness,” said Mrs Nyamweda, a teacher at Girls’ High School.
Online Reporter