The first primary school built in Savusavu, Cakaudrove Province has again changed its name.

Khemendra Indian Primary School built during the 1950s in Nakama was changed to Khemendra Bhartiya Primary School, Khemendra Central Primary School and now Khemendra Sanatan Primary School (KSPS).

To mark the official name of the school, the management invited Minister for Education Premila Kumar to unveil the school’s signage board on Wednesday night.

KSPS manager Shiu Prasad provided a brief history of the school to Ms Kumar.

He said the school was initially set up with two classrooms where the Savusavu Medical Centre was.

“A generous man, Sathi Narayan donated three and half acre land to the founders to build a proper school where it is now,” Mr Prasad said.

“So many Sanatan families were involved in raising funds to buy the building materials and then build the school in stages.”

He said this was why the name of the school was changed again to include the word Sanatan to acknowledge their contributions.

“The word Khemendra remains as it is named after the donor’s son which we would always cherish,” he said.

“Khemendra an engineer by profession is in Suva and we always communicate with him.”

The school from Years One to Eight has 770 student roll and 25 teachers.

Ms Kumar said she was aware that the school wanted to change its name since 2011 with an aim to have a common identity.

“The name behind every schools carries a meaning and I am glad that the operation of this school continues,” Ms Kumar said.

“I am happy to see that the school is clean and well maintained.”

She paid tribute to late Mr Narayan because it was rare these days having people to donor land for such purposes.

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