By Kite Pareti
Residents of Fiji’s first capital Levuka can look forward to accessing advanced educational opportunities through a new partnership between the Levuka Town Council and The University of Fiji.
Chairperson of the Levuka Town Council Board, Ben Naidu, commended the collaboration at this month’s launch, saying: “I am really excited to see that such an esteemed university has stretched its arms to give a helping hand to not only the people of Levuka, but to the people of Lomaiviti as a whole.
“Now that the university is here, we don’t need to send our children to Suva or to other centres in Fiji for their education, because you will have everything here from the comfort of your home. You can attain a degree. Whatever worldwide course program that the university is offering, you can apply for it. It’s as simple as that,” he said.
Naidu says the historic town has seen an “exodus of many good people” and a “neglect of essential services like the hospital”.
“The population on this island has dwindled down to about 9400 people from 14,000. We need people to grow the economy,” he said.
The partnership will include training and education for young people and lifelong learners and facilitating support for the council’s administrative requirements for local government, as well as assisting with various economic development projects based on sustainable growth while still maintaining Levuka’s special character.
“The end target of this endeavour is to ensure that Levuka town and its people become prosperous,” says Vice-Chancellor of The University of Fiji, Professor Shaista Shameem.
“Our recent preliminary visit to the town and to the secondary schools, kindly hosted by the principal of Levuka Town Public School, revealed to us that the young people here have a thirst for knowledge, but their opportunities can be limited,” said Shameem.
“Many parents prefer to keep their students at home or their children at home due to the many menaces that young people face today in towns, namely drugs, security, lack of family support and safe accommodation,” she added.
In recognition of parents’ concerns, the University has established an initial office in the Levuka Town Council building.
“This will allow us to engage directly with the communities, not only for providing the excellent, internationally accredited, hard qualifications that the University of Fiji is known for, but also providing soft skills, leadership training and emotional intelligence, which is in demand by the modern and sustainable oriented industries that we support,” said Shameem.
“It has been made clear in parliamentary debates recently that one of the biggest problems in Fiji is the school dropout rate. We plan to ensure that our work in Levuka reverses this trend by delivering the best sustainable and broad-based education for young people that we can provide,” she said.
“The University of Fiji has gained a reputation for training Fiji’s leaders and in Levuka we aim to lead by example,” she added.
The University’s Levuka office will soon move to the original Governor’s house in Nasova. The office will include an open and supervised space for young people to take part in clubs such as the chess club, art and craft club, thespian society, debating club, mooting for those interested in joining the University’s school of law, as well as a hub for community activities.
“We will establish a bookshop and arts space as well as offer public lectures on topics that would be of interest to the people of Levuka generally. In that regard we hope to partner with historical societies and the artists community in Levuka for their insights and innovations,” said Shameem.
“These developments will assist not only in the Levuka Town Council’s civic pride initiatives but also attract more visitors to the town for revenue generation,” she added.
Meanwhile, Pro Chancellor of The University of Fiji, Pundit Bhuwan Dutt, believes one of the key components of education should be inculcating human values in people.
“In simple terms, it means love for all and hate for none,” said Dutt.
Since 2005, Dutt says the University has always tried to give holistic education.
“The University of Fiji promotes vernaculars. From its very inception, the University has established a centre for iTaukei studies to promote iTaukei culture and language. The founder insisted on this, and it is operating very well,” he said.
“Thus, when they come out of the University, they know how to behave in different circumstances, how to greet people, how to talk to others, how to serve them, and become respectful citizens in the community. Such training would also be useful in the partnership agreement,” he added.