News

Missing postmaster causes mix up in exam papers

July 8, 2015 6:40 pm

A primary school in the Lau Group did not receive its allocation of exam papers for the Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (LANA) which started on Tuesday and ended on Wednesday.

The papers reached Namuka-i-Lau island twice, but were returned to Suva because the postmaster couldn’t not be located.

The Education Ministry says all Assessment papers for schools in Eastern Lau were dispatched on June 1st, on the vessel MV Sandy. However, Namuka District School failed to receive it’s allocation.

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According to the Ministry, the mail bag containing the exam paper was taken twice to Namuka-i-Lau but it was not collected by the post master.

Post Fiji Manager Postal Services Seveci Tora told FBC News, when they deliver mail to the boat, it’s the boat’s responsibility to offload the mail at the island.

Tora says, the mail – which had the exam papers returned on June 2nd and was sent again on the 28th but was returned again. He says they were informed the mail was not collected.

Seaview Shipping – which owns MV Sandy says, on both occasions, when they reached Namuka-i-Lau, they couldn’t locate the postmaster.

The Ministry says, they tried several times to send the papers again but could not as there were no scheduled trips to Lau this week. The Ministry also attempted to get assistance from the Fiji Navy but to no avail.

On Monday, Namuka District School Head Teacher Viliame Rokobuli traveled almost an hour by boat to Komo District School to get spare copies of the exam paper.

Due to unfavorable weather conditions, he spent the night in Komo and returned on Tuesday morning, just in time for the students to sit the exam.

The two-day LANA assessment ended yesterday, with 723 schools taking part.