IF there is one famous alumnus that Fiji’s first Indian school can lay claim to, it is Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna.
Wairuku Primary School (then known as Wairuku Indian School) was the first Indian School established in Fiji in 1898 by the late Badri Maharaj, a farmer and politician who came to Fiji as an indentured labourer in 1889.
Mr Badri was the first Indian member of the Legislative Council serving for two periods between 1916 and 1923 and 1926 and 1929.
Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi had sought the school to educate his son, Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna.
Ratu Sukuna later went on to become the first Fijian to be educated at Oxford University in England.
“Ratu Sukuna’s understanding of the importance of the sugar industry and its link to the Indo-Fijian community who chose to make Fiji their home at the end of the Indenture period in 1916 would have had this view at a young age because up until now he is the most famous alumni of Wairuku Indian School in Ra,” said National Federation Party leader and academic Professor Biman Prasad while speaking at the memorial lecture at the Fijian Teachers Association Hall in Suva yesterday.
“The vision to establish the NLTB to administer leases for all native land on behalf of the landowners and the recognition of the land use needs for agriculture of the Indo-Fijian population is a perfect demonstration of Ratu Sukuna’s manifestation of Trust.”
Prof Biman said this led to the formation of the Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (ALTO) in 1966 which gave Indo-Fijians access to native land and in the latter years enjoyed security of tenure, and the growth of the sugar industry for several decades until the turn of the century.
