BOOST FOR SCHOOLS

The Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum (left), receives the $15,000 cheque for the Adopt-A-School Government initiative from CPA (Certified Practicing Accountants) Australia-Fiji branch president Uday Sen and vice president Nouzab Fareed on July 26, 2017 .

CPA (Certified Practicing Accountants) Australia’s Fiji branch yesterday gave $15,000 towards Government’s Adopt-A-School programme. And, their money is going towards rebuilding better, says Minister for Economy and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

While receiving the cheque from Fiji branch president Uday Sen and Vice-President Nouzab Fareed, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said the schools are now being built to a particular standard, which was not adhered to previously.

“The wonderful thing is that you are contributing to a programme that is rebuilding better as opposed to being a slapstick approach. 95 per cent of the schools we are rebuilding did not have architectural and engineering plans.” Mr SayedKhaiyum said.

The Adopt-A-School initiative came after the Fiji Institute of Engineers sent 70 of its members in 22 teams to produce detailed structural reports on the state of schools in the devastated areas and their precise requirements.

The brunt of Cyclone Winston’s fury had some school requiring repairs while some required the rebuilding of entire structures. Mr Sen said: “This is part of our promise and commitment which we made in the annual congress. We take it that this funding will go towards assisting one of the schools affected by Winston.” Mr Fareed added: “Money we collected from the conference will be used back into Fiji’s economy in different areas.”

Other areas where CPA Australia Fiji Branch is assisting are:

At the moment they have got Fiji’s Year 12 and Year 13 curriculum being reviewed and benchmarked against Australia.

“We have got a team of experts working in Australia and apart from that, we have got five awards in place for Year 13 students. These are outstanding students who perform well in Year 13 and by area as well there is one award for North, two for Central Division and two for Western Division.

“Apart from that, we had sent two Ministry of Education staff to Australia to attend the CPA Academic Conference which was in Adelaide.

“This was also part of our commitment to ensure the curriculum is right; we are continuously working through the mill to ensure that the level of graduates and the quality of students coming out of the system is really good.”

And, at tertiary level there are three gold medals up for grabs. “We have gold medals in the University of Fiji, Fiji National University and the University of the South Pacific.

“This is for outstanding graduates in the undergraduate programme.

“Finally, as part of ongoing CPA education, we have a programme in place with FNU, as part of their Masters programme. We offer CPA programme in their Masters in Professional Accounting where the students will end up with entire six CPA units.

“In time to come, we will have a lot more CPAs on board.”