REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT BAI NIAN VOCATIONAL SCHOOL MONDAY, 14TH JUNE, 2010
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT BAI NIAN VOCATIONAL SCHOOL MONDAY, 14TH JUNE, 2010
Madam Yao Li, distinguished guests, teachers and students, I am delighted to be here today at BN Vocational School. Thank you for your wonderful welcome.
Just like in Ireland, summer in China means exam time is approaching and you are busy studying at the moment. I wish you all the very best of luck with your preparations and I hope you will do very well. The Irish and the Chinese have a great faith in education for our experience over generations has been that education is the passport through which the individual person achieves their true potential and is able to make the best contribution they can to society.
Education is one of our strongest links to China. Many thousands of Chinese students have come to Ireland to learn and practice their English and we have made them very welcome. I hope maybe some day some of you will do the same or come to visit us as tourists. I know you are curious about Ireland and that you have a great friendship with us. I heard that your School Choir has starred at the Irish Cultural Festival in Beijing since it began three years ago and I can see why you have made such an impression now that I have heard and enjoyed your song of welcome this morning. Well done to you all.
I congratulate Madame Yao Li and her team and the students for producing such excellent work and setting such high standards. In the words that BNVS has embraced, "Life is a journey, and education is the light that guides that journey."
I have learnt a lot on this journey to your school and I am sure that with the help of BN Vocational School and your own efforts your own journeys through life will be fulfilling of your goals and dreams.
Thank you.