In the coastal towns of Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, Grade One students struggled to let go of their parents as they entered the school grounds for the first time.

It's that time of the year again when those who are already in the system look forward to a new beginning.

But for the newcomers, it is a rather terrifying moment—the one that they will have to face.

Filled with tears and clingy goodbyes, the first day of school is all kinds of nerve-racking for the little ones.

They did not want to let go of their mothers and begged to be taken back home.

There were those who feared that they were being totally abandoned in a world unknown to them.

But for some parents, the start of the academic year brought some kind of relief.