On the 21st of October, Operation Foundation, together with Beacon Media began partnering with members of Nanuku Community to provide free training for parents who were interested in teaching primary school students.
Free literacy and numeracy classes for children in classes 2 and 3 also began running in the community, with a select number of mothers rising to the challenge to teach, despite their own limitations. Covid-19 has severely disrupted education in Fiji.
Although informal classes have been running in the community since August, a recent survey done by the Beacon Media team found that in a group of 45 students, many of the students tested were well below their reading level, and the rest could not read at all. This number accounts for around 25% of the primary school students in the community. Because of this, urgency has been given to the children’s education project, with Operation Foundation working closely with Beacon Media to boost the level of literacy and numeracy in the community, beginning with the children, and develop the skills of the selected parent-teachers as well.
The training classes for parents began on the 4th of November and are expected to conclude in January of 2022. The literacy and numeracy classes for the children are being conducted simultaneously and are expected to continue for 2022 and forward. Budgets are being worked on to ensure that the appropriate resources are available as this initiative rolls out.
We are excited to see how things move into place, and what long term impact this may have for the education of the children in Nanuku, and the community at large.
