The Adventist Development and Relief Agency Fiji is committed to assisting the Education Ministry in improving the psychological well-being of children.

Country Director, Iliapi Tuwai says there is a need for more teachers to undergo psychological first aid training to deal with children who are unable to cope with schoolwork during these trying times.

He believes the notion that children must not be included in development should be a thing of the past because more attention is needed to build their resilience.

“It’s called an accelerator. Accelerate is to move fast. Because these are things that are happening and we need not delay for tomorrow. And the challenge for us today is to do something, rather than just talk about it.”

Tuwai says they will create more awareness to influence people at the grassroots level to take advantage of the counselling services, particularly when mental health issues are still considered taboo in some societies.

“Given the situation that we had just gone through from COVID-19, when there is a complete lockdown, the teachers are not at liberty to come in to do their work. That’s why we also need to seriously think about our parents. The parents need to be taught how to teach their children.”

Fiji Program Support Facility Technical Advisor, Nazia Raza says 35 teachers have so far completed the counselling training under their facility.

“Counselling was a need identified by the Ministry, and DFAT saw that there was a need as well to provide the funding support for that. So, from Ministry there are teachers based in schools that were in child protection officer role, so they had expressed their interest to further their education and need in training and counselling.”

The Education Ministry also believes parents and guardians need more capacity to provide support for children at home.