Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka stressed the value of education when he was the chief guest at a school bazaar in the North, The Fiji Times reported on September 3, 1997.
Mr Rabuka said a person’s life was not complete if he or she aspired to develop only certain aspects of life while neglecting others that were equally important.
He said this during a visit to Laucala District School in Dreketi Village on Qamea Island.
Mr Rabuka urged the islanders to distribute their development efforts evenly among the needs of the vanua, education of their people and the church.
“People must not concentrate only on one of these three aspects while neglecting the others,” he said.
Speaking to hundreds of Fijian villagers and schoolchildren who gathered for the two-day event, Mr Rabuka said education was important as it helped intellectual development.
“People must not focus on this at the expense of religion or traditional obligations.
“While people need to raise money for the development of the school, they must also give their contributions to church and provincial levies.”
Mr Rabuka urged villagers to take better care of their children and support their education.
He said there were already many well-educated people from Qamea, and village elders should encourage these people to contribute to the development of their island.
Mr Rabuka started his primary education at Laucala District School in 1955 when his father, Kolinio, was the headteacher.
Former teacher Kolinio Yabia, who taught Mr Rabuka in 1957, said he vividly remembered young Sitiveni as an all-round student.
“Rabuka was a very well-behaved student, and he almost always accomplished his tasks well either in school or at home,” he said.
“He was a mature student, perhaps very mature for his age.”
The school, located about an hour boat ride from Taveuni, catered mainly for the villages of Dreketi and Togo.
At that time it had a roll of 73 students and four teachers with classes ranging from one to eight.
Headteacher Mesulame Tuleca said the fundraising drive aimed to enable repairs to the school building and to build flush toilets.
He said they were fortunate to have Mr Rabuka as chief guest because this would boost the morale of villagers and schoolchildren.
Mr Rabuka later opened the school bazaar with a $5000 contribution, a quarter of the $20,000 target organisers hoped to raise during the event.
