A campaign to reintegrate school dropouts in the Ba Province into some form of formal education is being spearheaded by the Soqosoqo Vakamarama iTaukei ni Yasana Ko Ba ((SSViT).
SSViT board member Ane Saukawa said the final phase of the program would involve introducing the dropouts to new opportunities for employment or to join a training institution.
Ms Saukawa said a two-day expo held last weekbrought together stakeholders from Government, civil society and tertiary institutions in Tavua and Lautoka for this very reason.
“The Yasana o Ba has 22,000 school dropouts and when that was tabled, the Soqosoqo Vakamarama took it upon itself to do something,” Ms Saukawa said.
“We started off with a baseline survey, then the dissemination of that information and then the expo which is the last phase.
“The three tikina (districts) that are our pilot areas are Savatu from the highlands, Sabeto from the corridor and Naviti from the islands.”
Ms Saukawa said following the in-depth survey and with the assistance of the Fiji Bureau of Statistics, the women’s group rallied to put together the information session, and the expo with other stakeholders.
“We had a big number of people coming from the district of Savatu in Tavua and then we had school dropouts from Tavua and we had current students on holiday showing interest in this expo.
“As organisers our expectations are high, but the reality will be different, and that is what happened on the first day of the expo, but we still had a good number with a very good turnout from our stakeholders.”
Ms Saukawa said a complete report on their findings would be presented during the Ba Provincial Council meeting at Nacula in Yasawa later this month.
