- ALL PRIMARY SCHOOLS TO HAVE KINDERGARTEN – The Honourable Minister for Education, Heritage and Arts, Dr Mahendra Reddy yesterday announced that all primary schools should have a kindergarten centre by the end of 2017.
- MINISTER URGES MORE ON VALUES EDUCATION – The Minister for Education, Heritage and Arts, Dr Mahendra Reddy this week announced that the Ministry of Education will expand its services to embark towards addressing the rising social problems.
- YAQETA YOUTHS URGED TO IMPLEMENT TRAINING – Youths of Yaqeta Village in the Yasawa Islands were this week urged to practice lessons learnt during a week-long Youth Empowerment on Farm and Land Management Training.
- ALL PRIMARY SCHOOLS TO HAVE KINDERGARTEN
The Honourable Minister for Education, Heritage and Arts, Dr Mahendra Reddy yesterday announced that all primary schools will have a kindergarten centre by the end of 2017.
Minister Reddy made the announcement while opening the new kindergarten centre at Nawai Public School.
“The government believes that early childhood education is vital in developing the intellectual capital of this nation. The government has and will continue to invest in the lives of the children of this nation. These children are the future of this nation and they should be given adequate resources to develop into their full capacity,” said Minister Reddy.
“With this vision in mind, we will work in collaboration with the communities and the schools to ensure that we have a kindergarten centre established in all primary schools by the end of 2017. We will also ensure that the free education grant extends to all these new centres. This will relieve the financial burden on the parents and ensure that all students have access to early childhood education.”
“This is the most important phase in the development of a child and this government is focussed on providing adequate and relevant resources to groom responsible Fijians who will push the frontiers and contribute significantly to the socio economic development of this nation.”
The Minister added that the government will continue to invest substantially in the education of the children of this nation to boost the national intellectual capital.
-ENDS-
- MINISTER URGES MORE ON VALUES EDUCATION
The Minister for Education, Heritage and Arts, Dr Mahendra Reddy this week announced that the Ministry of Education will expand its services to embark towards addressing the rising social problems.
Minister Reddy said that schools can be used in the weekend to conduct classes on values and virtues education.
“The Ministry of Education is concerned with the rising number of social problems that has plagued our society. We need to address this problem collectively,” said Minister Reddy.
“I am urging the faith based organisations to work with us in the weekends in our schools to teach values and virtues education. This initiative will ensure that our children are fed with the right information to make informed decisions. We need to instill sound and moral values to our children. These values will greatly impact their decision making and ensure that we groom morally sound individuals who can make a difference in their family and their community.
“We need to build the right foundation in the lives of our children and the principles of our faith based organisations will certainly play a vital role in our pursuit. This will also build the confidence in our children to question the existing way of doing things. We need to train our children to move away from the culture of silence and question traditional authorities when dealing with contemporary issues.”
The Minister also stated that it is high time for all Fijians to work together to address the growing social problems for a better and united Fiji.
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- YAQETA YOUTHS URGED TO IMPLEMENT TRAINING
Youths of Yaqeta Village in the Yasawa Islands were this week urged to practice lessons learnt during a week-long Youth Empowerment on Farm and Land Management Training.
In closing the empowerment training, Minister for Youth and Sports Hon. Laisenia Tuitubou called on youths that attended the workshop to ensure that government’s efforts in providing avenues for youth development were put to good use.
“Government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports has brought this empowerment workshop to your shores so the onus is now on you to put into practice all that has been taught to you because if you fail to administer all that you have learnt during the workshop, then that would mean the empowerment training was all for naught,” Minister Tuitubou said.
“Ensure that Governments’ resource which was spent in bringing such workshops to your maritime community is worthwhile and I call upon youths of Yaqeta to fully utilize the resources that is in abundance on the island to ensure your development.”
Minister Tuitubou said that the ministry would closely monitor the development of youths on the island and that he was looking forward to their progress.
“I am optimistic that when we return to Yaqeta in October, we will witness the revitalization of your village youths as a direct result of this empowerment training,” he said.
“We are resource rich but on the other hand are money poor therefore I call upon you to effectively implement all that you have learnt to generate revenue for yourselves,” Minister Tuitubou added.
Meli Cava of Yaqeta Youth Club thanked the ministry for bringing the training to the island as it was one such workshop that had been requested by them during a previous consultative visit by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
“After the end of this empowerment training, we have been greatly enlightened on how best to use our resources and I am thankful to government for this valuable training,” he said.
“Through the conducting of this farm and land management training, it indicates to us the youths of maritime areas like Yasawa the commitment and care the ministry has for young people,” added Mr Cava.
Minister Tuitubou also spoke to students of Yaqeta Village School whereby he reiterated the importance of education and government’s commitment to the education sector.
Press Release