Sera Navuga 
The Soqosoqo ni Marama ni Yasana ko Ba has stepped in to assist school drop-outs in the province.
Between 2018 and 2023, the province recorded 22,000 school drop-outs – the highest in the country, and the majority were women.
To assist these drop-outs, the organization joined forces with a German-based organization, Bread for the World, to pilot an education project in the province.
Project Coordinator Leilani Tora says as part of the project, awareness programs are carried out in the province to identify the drop-outs and give them a second chance at education.
“Of course that is a big concern for our women in particular. I’m stressing the women because that’s who we represent. We are the primary caregivers in our families, so we then proposed a project to address this issue and we started off with three pilot sites in three pilot tikinas.”
Bread for the World has committed support for three years.
Tora says the drop-outs are mostly enrolled in tertiary education at the Fiji National University.
“When we had those discussions with our different tikinas, the women that we spoke to, they spoke of education as being a top priority for them. They needed help for their children because they know that education is the key to a better future.”
The organization says this project is not only about addressing dropout rates, but is aimed at breaking cycles of disadvantage and empowering families through education.
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