KOROTARI Arya School has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a community school built from the ruins of an old tobacco factory to one of Labasa's thriving academic institutions.
In celebrating the school's golden Jubilee recently, chief guest and permanent secretary for primary education, Basundra Kumar paid homage to the founders and the pioneer of the institution saying that their insight was a blessing for children like her who had been educated in the school.
"There have been many hardships and challenges that the institution faced through its beginnings but the adversities has helped it to become what it is today," she said. Being a pioneer student she said such institutions also gave opportunities for children in rural areas of Fiji to aspire and contribute to the development of their communities. School manager, Pradeep Lal said the school continued in its vision of providing education.
"Children in this area are mostly children of farmers as this is a farming community and the school management continues to ensure that the children in the community have equal access to education like their urban counterparts, said Mr Lal."
He said alot of things have changed in the school's system since it opened its doors in 1968. "We are planning to introduce our students to computer education next year as we have started fundraising for the project," he said.
Mr Lal said the school was the result of a collective community effort and he lauded the Arya Pratindhi Sabah for their dedication to the development of the institution.