The people of Vuna, in Sawani celebrated two things at Sawani Primary School yesterday.

The first was the opening of the school’s new three- classroom block, a teacher’s quarters and the renovation of old classrooms. The second was the 80th anniversary of the school.

The chief guest was the Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama, who said he was always happy to be with the children and opening their clasrooms.

The chairman of the school’s board and Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, Brigadier- General Mosese Tikoitoga, said: “The school was in a very bad state and had been given two warnings by the OHS unit for its closure.

“I saw the standard of the school when I was the chief guest at the prizegiving last November and I decided to be a board member as that is the only way I can help the school.

“I made myself available and was appreciated by the people of Vuna to come in and chair the board.”

He said they started with renovating the school and they had space to increase the roll.

“We did all the preparatory work and approached the PM’s Office for help. The PM, after knowing the plight of the children of Vuna, agreed to fund the renovation.”

The RFMF Engineers, he said, were then tasked to do the work.

He said they had completed part of the first phase which included renovations of the old buildings, a 1 x 3 classroom and a teacher’s quarters. “We also completed a library and a computer lab and we have yet to build an ablution block, another teacher’s quarters and a kindergarten.”

All the work, he said, would be completed in December.

Their next plan, he said, would be to build a secondary school and their first task was finding suitable land for it.

The school is appealing to donors to donate computers, as its ambition is to turn the lab into a telecentre for the students, the people of Vuna and those of the surrounding areas.

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