For Fiji to progress, we need to invest in the future, says the Acting-Prime Minister and Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

He made the comment during the Kavanagasau Sanatan Dharm Sanatan School prizegiving in Navosa last night.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum urged parents to invest in their children’s future because Government was doing the same.

“Education is very important, it is very critical as you know that we have made education free, all the way up to Form 7, if your child finishes Form 7 and is a top scholar, we give

them full scholarship depending on the area of study that we have selected,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

“We need doctors, we need nurses, teachers, marine scientists, foresters, land surveyors – all these skills we require in Fiji.”

He said those who were unable to secure a scholarship, but were still able to enter a university, could opt for the Tertiary Education Loan Scheme.

“The Government is looking at making things easier, so never before in Fiji’s history do we have this opportunity for our children and as parents we must grab this opportunity because education is the key,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

He said Government was investing in the future and for that the leaders of the Government had been thinking ahead.

“These students will become teenagers … and would want to go to universities and have a job. We are giving them free education because we believe that if Fiji wants to be ahead, we have to think 10 or 15 years ahead.

“No country in this world has ever advanced if the leaders only think up to their noses. We have to think up to the future and that is what we are doing.”

His message to each individuals present at the prizegiving was to work together as Fijians to help Fiji grow.

“If we all work together as Fijians, we all focus on how to improve our country on doing the little bit we do, whether you are a farmer, a housewife, a teacher, carrier driver or someone that carries water.

“Everybody do their work properly, the country will progress and that is what we must be focused on. That is why it is strategically important for us to be able to realise that,” he said.

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