Vaturu District School in Nadi has received a new set of double bunk beds for its boys’ hostel after the headteacher’s appeal to a local trust late last year, marking the latest development in efforts to improve living conditions for boarders at the rural primary school.
Headteacher Anaseini Qeleca, who was posted to Vaturu last year, told this newspaper that she raised the issue at the school’s awards ceremony in December after discovering that male boarders were sleeping on wooden beds infested with bed bugs or on thin rugs on the floor. The school, which has a roll of 48 pupils mostly from the interior villages of Natawa and Nagado, has 22 boys who will use the new sleeping arrangements. The set of bunk beds was unveiled to pupils last Thursday, prompting visible excitement among the youngsters, Ms Qeleca said.
The beds arrived through a partnership brokered by the Kimaya Brighter Minds Trust, a management and hospitality group whose chairman, Damend Gounder, attended the awards ceremony and heard the headteacher’s appeal firsthand. Mr Gounder committed to help and, with logistical support from Fiji Airways, arranged for the beds to be shipped from Australia. He acknowledged additional assistance from Mr Ashok Reddy of Reddy’s General Services and Gibson Freight in managing the transport and customs arrangements.
Ms Qeleca described a cautious optimism among staff and parents after the request was made, noting that a formal written application — on school letterhead and submitted during the holidays — helped secure the response. School staff are still in the process of labelling beds and mattresses, she said, and the immediate focus remains ensuring the boys move into the improved accommodation promptly. Teachers who joined the school last year were especially moved by the conditions they found during hostel checks in cold or wet weather, the headteacher added.
Mr Gounder said the initiative went beyond comfort, stressing the link between adequate rest and learning. “When we heard that children were sleeping on mats on the floor and struggling with basic needs, we knew we had to act,” he said, adding that providing proper beds and rations is about restoring dignity and enabling students to focus in class. He also pledged to supplement the school’s food supply, a promise welcomed by the school community as part of a broader support package.
The Kimaya Brighter Minds Trust used the awards event as an entry point for the partnership: two Vaturu teachers attended a workshop funded by the trust, and the group chose the school for the ceremony. The next phase of assistance will focus on upgrading the girls’ hostel with bunk beds and carrying out painting works for both male and female hostels, Ms Qeleca said. The trust has signalled continued commitment to uplifting underserved schools, framing the project as an example of community partnership to address practical needs that affect educational outcomes.
The delivery at Vaturu underscores growing attention to basic boarding facilities in rural schools, where infrastructure challenges can compound educational disadvantages. For now, staff and families at Vaturu are celebrating a concrete improvement in students’ daily lives and are preparing for the next round of upgrades aimed at ensuring all boarders have safer, more dignified sleeping arrangements.
Leave a comment