Meretinai Vaturaiyawa, a student at Nakorotubu Secondary School, is determined to pursue her tertiary education at Fiji National University (FNU), aspiring to become a nurse. She reflected on her experience at the FNU Open Day, where she focused on Food Science while exploring the College of Medicine, Nursing, and Health Science.
The 16-year-old expressed her enthusiasm for learning about medical field opportunities, noting the local health center in her village, Namarai, Nakorotubu, Ra. She highlighted the lack of representation from her village at the health center, stating, “It is my aim that one day I’ll be stationed at the health center at Namarai as a nurse.”
Vaturaiyawa shared that the FNU Open Day in Nasinu provided her with valuable insights, confirming her choice of FNU as her future educational institution. She mentioned that her school was established in 2020, and she began her studies in Year Nine in 2021.
However, she has faced challenges in her education, revealing that there were no Biology and Chemistry teachers at her school during the first two terms of the year. “We finally have a Biology and Chemistry teacher in Term Three but then there is no Home Economics teacher,” she noted. Currently, the vice-principal distributes worksheets for Home Economics classes, as the school continues to seek qualified teachers.