The Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts, the Australian High Commission and Fiji Program Support Facility personnel visited nine schools in the North last week, to consult with heads of schools and school management on the Australian-funded School Recovery Program. These schools are amongst those that had been severely damaged during TC Yasa in late 2020, and one school that was badly affected by the floods caused during TC Ana in early 2021.
The Permanent Secretary for Education, Heritage and Arts, Dr Anjeela Jokhan, accompanied the team on this trip to discuss the scope of work with the heads of schools and school management.
"It was impressive to see the resilience of the communities in terms of the swiftness with which they worked to ensure schools opened on time after the cyclones."
"We thank the Australian Government for being such a strong partner in education over the years," said the Permanent Secretary.
The Australian Government has provided FJ$19.5 million towards education recovery. The Acting Development Counsellor at the Australian High Commission, Erin Magee, explained that, "The funds will be used to rehabilitate critical school infrastructure, enabling children to get back into the classroom after a difficult 18 months."
Soon after TC Yasa and TC Ana, the school communities responded by fixing schools that were not so badly damaged. At the same time, 32 schools were assisted by the Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts, DFAT, the Royal Fiji Military Forces and a few generous citizens, to carry out more significant works to enable them to open for students.
Nine schools with the most severely damaged are earmarked for rebuilding by the Australian-funded School Recovery Program over the next three years which will be implemented by the Fiji Program Support Facility.
A report from the visit will be presented to the Program Steering Committee set up for oversight and to make strategic decisions on the project. The Steering Committee comprises the Permanent Secretary for Education, Heritage and Arts, Permanent Secretary for Economy and the Development Counsellor from the Australian High Commission.
The Fiji Program Support Facility will soon engage an architectural firm to work with the Ministry and schools to develop designs for construction. Once designs are finalised, contractors will be engaged to start the construction. The three-year project will see the full construction of some schools and the rehabilitation of others.
"The excitement of the school heads, teachers, school management and communities was gratifying. As we visited these remote schools, we realised the commitment of communities towards the education of our children. And the success of education delivery in these schools is attributed to the strong partnership between the school and the communities,” said the Permanent Secretary.