SCHOOL’S LEGACY LIVES ON
LEVUKA Common School, which later became Levuka Public School (LPS) is widely regarded as the pioneer educational institution in Fiji.
The school was established in 1879 and remains the fountainhead of Fiji’s modern-day educational system.
In 2019, the school celebrated its 140th anniversary and the challenges and triumphs of LPS were noted in a booklet that was lovingly kept in the school library.
The booklet outlined and recorded how the school was set up and how it has survived since its inauguration.
According to the historical record, the date the school opened was Monday, August 25, 1879.
However, the Oddfellow Hall was postponed for a week because of a public holiday and the school eventually started on Tuesday, September 2, 1879, with a roll of 58, “of whom half were girls”.
The fees prescribed were one shilling per week per child, and six pence a week for each additional child in a family.
At a meeting on March 7, 1881, the school board finally selected the Totogo creek site to be the home of the school.
The school was completed in July 1881 and was occupied the same month.
The two-storied building, though modified through the years, still stands as a testament to Fiji’s rich Colonial post.
The school was completed in July 1881 and occupied in the same month.
The period from 1885 to 1890 was one of severe economic depression and planters in other islands could not afford to send their children to school in Levuka.
As a result of the economic downturn, the average attendance at Levuka Public School dropped in 1889 to just over 40, and only the bottom floor of the building was used. The period marked the lowest point in the school’s history.
From soon after it opened, Levuka Public School attracted pupils from outside Ovalau, particularly from Vanua Levu, Taveuni, and even from Pacific island groups beyond Fiji.
In 1908, a government boarding establishment was opened and it operated under the general supervision of the headmaster. In 1912, a small hospital building, constructed by Jack Eastgate for a contract price of 97 pounds, was added to the hostel.
In 1910, and again in 1915, because of the growing roll, separate classrooms were built on the hillside beyond the main school.
By the 1920s the number of pupils had risen to more than 200 and there were six teachers on staff.
The year 1930 saw the beginning of a worldwide economic depression. In Fiji, the coconut industry was one of the principal victims, with the prices paid to copra dropping from the equivalent of more than $80 a ton to less than $7 which was below the cost of plantation production.
As a result, the number of country children at Levuka Public School, and in particular the hostel boarders, dropped severely because parents were not able to afford to send their children to school.
In 1931, the hostel was closed and it seemed likely that when the school opened in 1932 the roll would be down to about 80.
Fiji, like the rest of the world, gradually emerged from the depression of the 1930s. The Levuka Public School roll defied the odds and never did drop to the predicted 80.
In fact, after 1932 it was never below 100.
The school hostel was reopened in 1933, but under the direction of the Anglican Mission with a government guarantee of up to $200 against loss.
Despite the many political and climatic challenges endured pre and post independence, the school has remained open for the children of Ovalau and nearby islands in the Lomaiviti group.
Students and the school have continued to thrive in the area of education and athletics over the years.
The present school administration says they take pride in the knowledge that even though their students were not exposed to learning materials as the ones used by students in urban areas, they continued to stamp their mark on Fiji’s education map.
Levuka Public School today has a roll of 390 students consisting of 13 streams and four houses – Qaraniqio (blue), Tanoa (yellow), Ma’afu (green) and Mara (red).