FELIX LESINAIVALU
A $668,922 upgrade to the teachers’ quarters at Ballantine Memorial School funded by the Office of the Prime Ministers small grants scheme was commissioned by Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama.
Ballantine Memorial School Principal, Miriama Naicegucegu commended the initiative by the Government, through the Office of the Prime Minister, for assisting the school in the construction of three teachers’ quarters.
“Being a hostel boarding school, we need a lot more teachers in the compound to help with the supervision of students.”
“Out of 349 students, 173 are boarders, and with only 10 teachers we are sometimes too stretched out in the supervision.”
Ms Naicegucegu added the new teacher’s quarters will ease the workload for those already in the school compound and at the same time, with the state of the new quarters, it will be motivational for the teachers.
“Now with the fully furnished modern houses it will sure enough lift the morale of teachers and more so their efficiency.”
Prime Minister Bainimarama, while commissioning the teachers’ quarters, said, “Investing in high quality quarters is about more than providing teachers with a sense of physical safety and security, it is also about granting them comfort”.
While addressing the students of the school, Prime Minister Bainimarama said the Government was excited to reconnect students with their friends and teachers and continue their educational journeys in the classroom.
“Bear in mind that many of fellow students around the world don’t yet have this same opportunity; many of them will be learning at home for quite some time to come.
“Be thankful; and put that gratitude into practice every day of the next term. Work hard, study hard, be kind to one another, and, together, let’s press Fiji’s education revolution onwards, and let’s do it as safely as it can be done.”