Beauty of living next to a school

Tasha always arrives to class just a few minutes before the class teacher —7:30 am to be precise. She’s not a latecomer because their lessons start around 7:45am. What grants her this luxury of arriving just on time is living next to the school. These are among the few privileges a child enjoys by virtue of living next to a good school.

You see, while other pupils who live many kilometres away have to wake up at ungodly hours to catch the bus, my daughter wakes up in good time, takes her breakfast as comfortably as she wants because the school is a stone throw away.Actually, from where I live, I can count all the buses that drive in with pupils. I know that after bus ten makes its entry inside the school, it’s time to drop Tasha. Because I live on the top most floor in our apartment, I can also get to spot Tasha’s teacher metres away as she heads towards the school.

All these signals ensure Tasha arrives in class just in time for the lessons. She doesn’t have to go through the morning hustle of traffic and biting cold just to reach school in time. I can only imagine what pupils who live kilometres away have to go through from Monday to Friday.

Evening time

Another plus for living next to a school is minimal wasted evening time. The lessons end at around 3pm and if your kid lives nearby, you can be guaranteed she will be home within five to ten minutes depending on the distance.

But if your child uses the bus, you can expect her in the house by around 5pm or 6pm. Having endured head-throbbing traffic, squeezed in a tiny seat in the bus, you can expect that by that time, the minor arrives home, she is so famished and fatigued longing for her cosy bed. But homework and bathing await her, so the bed is not an option for her.

We as parents take our kids through a lot of unnecessary hustle in the name of according the best education. What I always wonder is why not just live in an estate next to a good school?

Photo credit: courtesy