News

Education officers and donors visit west schools

April 13, 2012 2:47 am

Six teams from the Ministry of Education are visiting schools adversely affected by the recent floods in the western division to assess the situation before any assistance is given.

Deputy Permanent Secretary for Education Iosefo Volau says representatives from Aus AID, ACAP, Save the Children’s Fund and UNICEF are also part of the team.

“At this point in time we are carrying out the assessment and verification visits to schools affected by the flooding. This includes the Nadroga/Navosa education district, Lautoka, Yasawa, Nadi, Ba Tavua and Ra. The initial damage assessment is already done but this is to ascertain the exact number of students that need to be assisted.”

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Volau says in the January floods AUS Aid assisted 3,248 students and they expect the numbers to increase.

“Compared to the first flood, the damage this time is quite considerable compared to the one in January. We were expecting more students being affected but right now we feel that from the number of students affected in the last flood, this one could be five times more.”

The assessment report is expected to be completed next week.