Around 260 students of Lekutu Secondary School in Bua, Vanua Levu now have six newly built classrooms which have been furnished with solar panels for energy efficiency.
The school buildings were damaged during Tropical Cyclone Yasa in December, 2020.
The school’s reconstruction began last year and was led by an Australian Defence Force-Republic of Fiji Military Forces Engineer Squadron and supported by members of the New Zealand Defence Force and the French Armed Forces in New Caledonia.
Australia’s High Commissioner to Fiji, John Feakes says this project is one of many examples where the Pacific vuvale have come together to support and strengthen its longstanding history of cooperation and friendship.
School Principal Avinendra Kumar has thanked the governments of Australia and Fiji for investing in the education of children in Lekutu.
He says these new classrooms offer them hope that their students education won’t be disrupted by future cyclones as the classrooms have been built to withstand cyclones.
The reconstruction project was also supported by the generosity and hospitality of the surrounding communities who had welcomed construction teams into their homes and offered them many meals over the months of their posting to Lekutu.
Later this year, a private construction company will commence construction of an ablution block, staff quarters, a library and computer room, dining hall, kitchen, dormitories, and an administration building.
This project is part of an Australian Government $28 million commitment to the Fijian Government’s Fiji Cyclone Recovery Program.
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