• The Ba Sanatan College Management Committee
• The Ministry of Education Officials: including the Director Secondary, the Divisional Education Officer Western and your team
• The Principal and Teachers of the Ba Sanatan College
• Principals and Heads of Secondary and Primary Schools from nearby schools – I also acknowledge your presence and am happy to learn that you have come to help celebrate this event with the Ba Sanatan College
• Students
• Parents and Guardians


Bula vinaka, Salam Alaykum, Namaste, Noa’ia e Mauri, and a very good morning to you all.

It is indeed a pleasure to grace your school, Ba Sanatan College 2016 Prefects’ Induction and my wife and I thank you for the kind invitation to be Chief Guests. In my capacity as President of Fiji, this would be our first visit to a secondary school and we hope to visit other schools around the country.

Today will also be an important and memorable occasion for some of you students who will be inducted as prefects for the first time and some who will be rewarded for your hard work. So I am sure you share the excitement of the day with me.

In my address this morning, I would like to address three groups in particular, the leaders, the awardees and the rest of the student body before I speak to everyone about a very important national phenomenon, which should be of concern and interest to all Fijians!

For those of you who have been chosen as prefects, you have proven yourselves, hence your calling to lead. When you become a leader, you are required to lead by example. Followers emulate what leaders do and not what leaders say but do not do.

To lead is to serve, so a good leader is not someone who throws his/her weight around and have very little to show for. Good leaders lead from the front. They show the way and how things are to be done. They set the examples so that others may follow. Leadership is about serving. As leaders you and I must have a positive attitude TO SERVE and not EXPECT TO BE SERVED!

As prefects, you are also the assistants to the teachers, therefore you are required to be responsible and reliable. You have an obligation and a very important role to play in the nurturing and development of your young peers who will be assuming the same responsibilities in future. Your theme of “Preach what you believe and practise what you preach” is absolutely appropriate in this regard.

For those of you who will be receiving awards for your achievements, you have proven yourself through your hard work, perseverance, sacrifices, and time management. Your pursuit of academic excellence has paid off and you deserve our congratulations to be firstly rewarded. Well done!

For the rest of the students, I want to reaffirm and assure you that you are also champions and winners in your own right. The fact that you are still being in school says a lot about you and especially about your desire to achieve something great in life. My advice to you is, continue to persevere, remain focussed and do not lose hope. The future now looks very bright for you.

I commend you and your parents for the effort that you make to be in school and to be part of the national effort to develop our beloved Fiji into a knowledge-based society.

On its part, Government has made, and continues to make, every effort to help you realise your dreams. For instance, Government has provided free education from pre-school or kindergarten, through to primary and secondary school and right up to tertiary level.

At tertiary level, you can either secure a TOPPERS scholarship under which you will be sponsored to study in specifically selected fields; OR you could secure a scholarship for any field of study of your choice. The free education initiative is not only limited to tuition fees, but it also includes free bus-fare for those who are eligible and free textbooks for all students.

Importantly, Government continues to review our education curriculum to ensure that Fiji achieves a high standard of education that will better prepare our young people to do well in life either to excel in the workforce or to be self-employed and successful.

You may already be aware that Government is not just focussed purely on academic achievement, but it is also placing unprecedented focus on developing our technical knowledge and skills. Government, in partnership with various communities, has established, and will continue to establish, technical colleges where students are given a choice to learn technical skills. These are skills that are in high demand in the labour market both within Fiji and internationally.

So, apart from congratulating those of you for your appointment as prefects and for your achievements in 2015, I also wish to encourage you all to continue to strive for the best. This is one time in Fiji’s history that as a nation, Fiji is able to cater for the education needs of our children and future leaders. This is part of Government’s national vision to provide equal access to quality education to all Fijians at all levels.

To all parents who are here this morning, I also have a message for you, and that is to continue to play your part in the education of your children. Government’s education initiatives now means that your responsibilities have been narrowed to buying your children’s uniforms, including shoes and bags and stationery. You are also responsible for preparing healthy and economical lunches. Even with the initiatives in place, I note that Government is going the extra mile to provide school bags and stationery to children who are in dire need.

I am very confident and consider it prudent that when all of us – parents, students, teachers, Government and the community at large - work together as a team to properly educate our students today, our beloved nation will be the ultimate winner because they will be our leaders of tomorrow.

Students, ladies and gentlemen, please allow me on this occasion to speak about another important topic and that is the issue of Non-Communicable Diseases or NCDs. I am happy to do this in my capacity as Fiji’s lead advocate in creating greater awareness about NCDs and how Fiji can improve from our current situation.

I am happy to note that the Ministry of Health is on stand-by to conduct a 15-minutes presentation on NCDs. They also have a team to conduct free medical screening for those of you who wish to make use of their services today.

The linkage of NCDs to you as students is very clear: to succeed in school and life, you must be healthy. The definition of health encompasses spiritual, physical, mental and social well-being.

Unfortunately in Fiji today we have many unhealthy people and unhealthy students who suffer from NCDs, to the extent that about 80-percent of deaths in Fiji are caused by NCDs especially heart attacks, diabetes and stroke. This has become one of my biggest concerns. The sad thing is most of these NCDs arise from poor choices we all make. The rate of NCDs in the country is at an alarming pace and if we need to combat the issue we need to begin with you the future leaders of this country. According to the Ministry of Health, the life expectancy for men and women in Fiji is less than 70 years. This means that most people in Fiji die before they reach their 70th birthday.

As your President, I am also here to tell you that we all need to live healthy lifestyles so that we have healthy blood as this is important for healthy organs. Having a healthy lifestyle must begin from pregnancy. When we are healthy, we are more productive, our life expectancy increases and less Fijians die young.

We need to eat right, drink right, breath right, and think right in order for, quote “Fiji to add years to life and Life to years”, unquote. Our lifestyle should be a healthy one to decrease premature deaths and increase life expectancy. Unlike some other countries in the world, Fiji is blessed with land where you can plant green leafy vegetables and fresh fruits and is surrounded by the vast Pacific Ocean that has a lot of fresh and healthy sea food. The secure Fiji environment allows you to exercise and partake in physical activities.

Unfortunately, many of us have become physically inactive: we prefer to stay indoors and watch TV or play electronic games, eat fast foods and unhealthy snacks and spend a lot of time sitting around with our handy mobiles.

The mentioned lifestyles and obesity, unbalanced diet, blood sugar, blood pressure, smoking and lack of exercise contribute to diabetes and heart diseases. I believe it is time to do some soul searching. It is time to start thinking …think of how you spend most of your day. Think of family members, neighbours or friends who died from lifestyle diseases before they turned seventy or who have died premature deaths. Think of diseases like diabetes or high blood pressure and others. Then think of how you can avoid falling into the same old cycle. Think of how you can make a difference. And make the choice to be different! Make a move to make a difference!

As a champion of the NCD awareness campaign in Fiji, it is most appropriate for me to say today that everyone must look after their health and make the right choices - and not convenient choices.
To conclude, the holistic growth of a child is largely dependent on his/her spiritual, psychological, mental and physical growth.

Our duty as educators, parents, teachers and students is to conform to healthy changes; that is instil good values and discipline to promote a spiritual growth, stimulate their body through exercise, provide a balanced diet and to keep them happy. In doing so, we are directly linked and we will all be moving towards an inclusive and healthy Fiji.

Students, ladies and gentlemen, I am most honoured to be here to officiate at the prefect induction ceremony, to help present the awards to the high achievers of 2015, and to also share with you my NCD message.

I wish all of you every success.

May God bless you and our beloved nation, Fiji.

Vinaka Vakalevu, Dhanyavaad, Faiek’sea and Thank You.