Children in primary schools around the country will soon receive psychosocial support resource materials to help them overcome the trauma they experienced following Tropical Cyclone Winston earlier this year.
This follows the launch of resource materials by the Minister for Education, Heritage and Arts Hon. Dr Mahendra Reddy today at the Vodafone Arena in Suva.
The materials, mostly books with true local stories that children can relate to, were developed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in partnership with the Ministry of Education.
Minister Reddy said the resources will allow children to learn better because of reference to objects and materials they are familiar with.
“Some of these materials will be used by 3-4 year old children who at the moment are at home and not getting appropriate and relevant materials to develop their thinking ability or a better learning environment,” Minister Reddy said.
“The materials will also be distributed to 1000 early childhood education centres around Fiji apart from the lower primary level and UNICEF has agreed to support the Education Ministry. More than 700 primary schools will be given these resource materials.”
The materials will also be uploaded on the Ministry of Education website for those who have access to internet.
“We have had discussions with UNICEF about how we can utilise UNICEF’s expertise to develop locally made cartoons for children and we will distribute them for free to households so young children can watch them at homes,” Minister Reddy said.
Minister Reddy also thanked UNICEF for providing tents to those schools that were affected by TC Winston.
UNICEF Pacific Representative, Dr Karen Allen said the initiative was part of their efforts to further support children affected by the category 5 cyclone.
“About 70 people went around Fiji to collect these stories and drew wonderful pictures. The purpose of these stories to help children who got scared in Cyclone Winston and who saw their villages damaged. It’s to make them feel happy again. It’s also about encouraging children to read more,” Dr Allen said.
-ENDS-