School marks centenary
IN OCTOBER this year, past and present students, parents and friends of Bucalevu Secondary School celebrated the educational institution’s centenary.
The event, held at Somosomo Village, Taveuni, gave them the opportunity to look back at how far the school had come over the past 100 years, and at how it had contributed to the development of the Northern Division.
The school was established in 1921 in accordance with the wishes of the then Council of Chiefs who saw the need to educate the iTaukei people in the four administrative centres of Fiji.
When the wishes of the Council of Chiefs were granted, Bucalevu was chosen as the site for the school that would go on to educate the children of Bua, Macuata and Cakaudrove.
According to retired school teacher and former student and principal, Satya Shandil, the school was initially named The Provincial School North (PSN).
“The school was built with three dormitories, a dining hall, a classroom block and four Fijian houses, bure to house the teachers,” he said.
“By 1924 a full-size football field was hewed out and Lovonivonu Village was relocated after payment of about 800 pounds to the Tui Rabe of that time.
“In the 1940s, the old system of having Standard One to Four systems was abolished and Bucalevu was converted into an intermediate school catering only for Classes Five and Six and then later it progressed to include classes Seven and Eight.”
In 1974, the school opened its doors to young girls who wanted to enrol into the secondary education system.
Unaisi Satini, the granddaughter of Tui Rabe Ratu Solomoni Satini, traditional chief of Lovonivonu Village was enrolled in the school and she became the first female student.
Looking back, she said her time at Bucalevu Secondary School was not easy.
She said being the lone female in an all-male school, schooling was daunting, but she lived up to the challenge.
Diuna, as she is more commonly known, now lives in Korotubu, Macuata.
She said the first few weeks were tough. She was teased, ridiculed and subjected to intense scrutiny by the male students and she was made to feel that she did not fit in and did not belong there.
“I had to cut my hair very short and was made to look as much like a boy as possible and it was only when I wore my green dress that people realised I was a female student at the school and the only one,” Diuna said.
In 1977, the school progressed from intermediate to junior Secondary School and went through a lot of changes which included more dormitories being added — with one named Tagimoucia House, more new classrooms and the dining hall replaced the thatched bure.
“The year 1985 brought a new dimension to Bucalevu as 42 students doing Form Five later became the first Form Six students to sit for the New Zealand University Entrance Examination,” Mr Shandil said.
“New developments also happened around this time with more teacher’s quarters, new dormitories and a generator being installed at the school.
“In 1995 the vocational education program was introduced to the school in the form of carpentry and joinery making and the other course was secretarial studies.”
Today, Bucalevu Secondary School is a pillar of academia and sports excellence for the Northern Division.
It is home to students from remote and neighbouring islands such as Qamea, Kioa, Naitauba, extreme ends of Taveuni and Buca, Saqani, Savusavu, Natewa, Naweni, Tacilevu, Nagigi, Koroivonu and Kanakana and it offers boarding facilities for both girls and boys.
Renowned alumni included the late Governor-General Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and former cabinet minister Poseci Bune.