As a nation we need to acknowledge the hard work of the teachers, we need to ensure we give them proper terms and conditions and we need to give them a proper learning environment.
Those were the words of Attorney-General and Minister for Education Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum while re-opening Tavua District School which received damages during Cyclone Winston.
Sayed-Khaiyum says the reality is that after Cyclone Winston enormous damage was caused to many structures throughout Fiji and a lot of them were schools.
The government has allocated $170 million to rebuild the cyclone affected schools.
Sayed-Khaiyum says many schools in Fiji were built without any architectural plans, designs and engineering standards so they are ensuring there is some level of compliance that is met so next time there is a cyclone it does not simply blow down.
He adds that even if it does get damaged they will know exactly what material has been used and what is the engineering standard.
