Bhawani Dayal Arya College parent Gya-nendra Prasad was a proud father yesterday after her only daughter, Year 11 student Rishika Devi, was awarded the Baton of Honour during the school’s cadet passing-out parade in Nakasi.

Mr Prasad said he could not be happier for his only daughter.

“She is the only girl in the family and is very special; I was expecting her to win an award but not this one,” Mr Prasad said.

Rishika started taking part in the school’s cadet programme since she entered high school and had previously won the Best Female Cadet and Best Leadership award.

Mr Prasad commended the military for their effort in assisting schools to enhance the students’ discipline.

This, he said, had contributed a lot to the upbringing of her daughter.

“She now shows a lot of self-respect and discipline in the house because of what she has been learning.”

Meanwhile, Devi said she hoped to utilise what she had learned from the cadet training programme to achieving her dream career of becoming an IT engineer.

“The cadet programme has helped me to be alert all the time.

“Whatever will be required of me in fututre, I will be able to do it because during the training, we were given commands and we had to follow it,” Ms Devi said.

She dedicated her achievement to her family.

The other award recipients were:

– Best Female Cadet- Pau-lini Vonokula

– Best Male Cadet- Mesake Vatunalaba

aqela.susu@fijisun.com.fj