The Ministry of Education permanent secretary, Dr Brij Lal recently launched the first ever School Maintenance Handbook to inform school managements on the importance of caring for school buildings and facilities.
“This initiative of the Access to Quality Education Program (AQEP) in partnership with the Ministry of Education has come at the right time since schools were distributed Free Education Grant this year,” Dr Lal said.
“The manual will serve as an invaluable reference for school managements throughout the country with 20 per cent of the grant allocated for building and maintenance.”
South Tavueni Secondary School manager, Krishna Reddy said the school maintenance handbook imparts valuable information to caretakers on the importance of maintaining school facilities and buildings.
Dr Lal also acknowledged the technical working group for the formulation of this publication and the Australian Government for the funding.
“AQEP is really pleased that the Maintenance Manual has met the need of the Ministry of Education and schools at a time when the Free Education Grant is being rolled out this year,” AQEP Team Leader, Dr Priscilla Puamau said.
She said that AQEP was happy to partner with the Education Ministry on the School Maintenance Manual, which would be a useful resource for all schools in Fiji.
A copy of the manual will be provided to all schools here to enable easy accessibility to valuable information contained in this publication.
“The application of the knowledge gained from the School Maintenance Manual will create an atmosphere in our schools that is conducive to teaching and learning,” Dr Lal said.