NAIKELEYAQA VILLAGE SCHOOL RECEIVES ASSISTANCE

23/05/2017

Close to 30 students of Naikeleyaqa Village School in Kabara, Lau will have better access to education following the donation of a boat and engine by the Ministry of Education.

At the handing over in Suva today, Minister for Education, Heritage and Arts Hon. Dr Mahendra Reddy said Government was committed to removing all obstacles in education, and ensuring that our future generation had better access to education, especially children in rural and maritime schools.

Minister Reddy also commended the school management present at the hand-over for their continuous support towards providing better education facilities for their children.

“Government has been allocating a dedicated amount of money in the national budget to purchase boats and engines for numerous schools. These are not only for schools in the islands, but also in the interior areas where children have to cross rivers to go to school,” Minister Reddy said.

He said they would continue to provide assistance to remote schools because of the additional disadvantage factors affecting them.

“This is not the end of assistance to your school. We are continuously looking at how we can provide additional assistance to your school. Two months ago we gave 2000 to 3000 mattresses to interior school where there are hostels,” Minister Reddy added.
Naikeleyaqa Village School manager, Kameli Baleilautoka said the boat would be useful in transporting children to the other two schools on Kabara for extra-curricular programmes.

“We had sought assistance in 2014 and today we are glad that our request is being fulfilled. This assistance is appropriate and relevant to the development of education on the island,” Baleilautoka said.