[Photo: FILE]

Children in villages around Savusavu are being forced to go to extraordinary lengths to keep up with their schoolwork because of unreliable internet connectivity.

The issue was raised directly with Government during a town hall forum in Nukubalavu last night, where villagers called for urgent assistance.

Nukubalavu Village headman Deve Vuwai says some children are travelling to the coastline late at night simply to find enough signal to complete their school projects.

“I am pleading to the government of the day, on behalf of my fellow villagers, if there could be any sort of assistance in getting a Starlink for the village to stop children from going late night to the coastlines to complete their projects.”

While Savusavu continues to develop, villages close to the town centre say reliable connectivity remains out of reach.

Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica says Government is using its Universal Connectivity Trust Fund to bridge the digital gap.

“Right now, we have already deployed 120 Starlink kits across Fiji to villages, and there’s another, in that Fiji, we have to gazette the villages, because there has to be an assessment process before that happens.”

Kamikamica says another 120 villages are being assessed for Starlink connectivity, with the Government aiming to connect about 500 villages over the next three years.

He says he will check whether Nukubalavu has been gazetted for the programme.

“So if they’re not, I know the current Minister of Communications is from Cakaudrove. So I will ask him to check, and the Telecommunications Authority to check. If they are on it, then Nukubalavu is okay. But at the same time, we will just make some inquiries with Vodafone and Digicel.”

For families in Nukubalavu, the demand is straightforward, and that is reliable connectivity so children can study safely and villagers can stay connected when it matters most.