Facilities Worth $3.5m Lift Standard at Sukanaivalu Memorial School
We are one of the few countries in the world that provides free education in its true sense from ECE to Year 13: Dr Jokhan
The Government’s commitment to education has always had the common goal of providing “Education for All – leaving no child behind”.
Permanent Secretary for Education, Heritage and Arts, Dr Anjeela Jokhan, made these remarks during the commissioning of new facilities at the Sukanaivalu Memorial School on the Island of Yacata in Northern Lau on Wednesday.
The new facilities cost $3.5 million and includes new classrooms, an ECE block, a dining hall, an ablution block, teachers’ quarters, a solar energy system and the provision of a backup generator that will enhance teaching and learning.
Dr Jokhan said the successful completion of one of the Northern Division’s most remote schools is a milestone achievement in these efforts to extend the benefits of affordable education to all Fijians.
“It also ensures all children, regardless of where they live in Fiji, have a better future with the knowledge and skills they acquire
in school,” she said.
The parents, school management and stakeholders present at the event were encouraged to join the discussion and offer support to raise educational standards in Fiji to ensure our children truly benefit from education.
“We are one of the few countries in the world that provides free education in its true sense from ECE to Year 13, provides free textbooks and transport assistance. For a small middle income country, this is phenomenal support,” she said.
“As parents, we need to understand
our children, guide them and inculcate good values in them. We all must see the development of our children as a shared responsibility between parents, teachers, communities and our elders.”
She commended the efforts of the Head of School, teachers, school management, and the entire community for their relentless hard work, improvising and shouldering the challenges for five years by conducting composite classes in the village hall.
Meanwhile, the school is also one of the 40 recipients of the Northern
Connectivity Project. The project equipped the school with internet connectivity enabling students and teachers to benefit from modern teaching resources.
Appreciation was also extended to Orisi Tudreu of Jenns Construction and his team who assisted in the re-construction of the school.
The school is named in honour of the late Sefanaia Sukanaivalu – a Fijian military hero and the sole recipient of the Victoria Cross, the most prestigious award for gallantry in the Commonwealth.
The Yacata native sacrificed his life to save his comrades during World War II in Bougainville Solomon Islands, in 1944.