Atelini is UniFiji's First Female Doctorate Graduate

Atelini Vesikula Bai says life is a season, when given the opportunity to study, one must grab it because there is no guarantee that opportunity will come back. 

Ms Bai was awarded a Doctorate of Education during the University of Fiji graduation ceremony last Friday at the Saweni Campus in Lautoka. 

It is the highest qualification to be awarded by the university. She is the university’s first female student to receive the award. 

“I initially wanted to become a pilot, but we didn’t have the money for it. There was the option of going to stay in the village for a year, but since my mother was a nurse, she said; ‘If you want to live under this roof, you’re not going to the village for a year,” she said. 

“She told me to choose between nursing and teaching. I chose both. I went for both interviews and told her, whichever comes first, I’ll do that, so that’s how I got into teaching.” 

The mother of five has spent 25 years teaching and has been a lecturer at the University of Fiji’s Education Department for 10 years. 

Ms Bai holds a Masters degree and Post Graduate Diploma in Educational leadership from UniFiji, a Bachelor of Teaching Primary from the Fulton Adventist University College and a Certificate in Primary Teaching from the then Lautoka Teachers College (now Fiji National University Natabua Campus). 

“It is a very humbling experience because I’ve tried to equal or be better my mother. This year would be the 40th anniversary of her being the triple first gold medallist to the South Pacific Games. My mother is Merewai Turukawa,” she said. 

Ms Bai consistency and a strong support system were two vital things for women who wished to further their education. 

“We are very young group of academics and today just opened the floodgates, the ball has started rolling because it just takes one of us to walk that plank and inspire the ones struggling,” she said. 

“When I started off in 2015. I told my mum I want to do this programme. She said go for it and then when Dr Baba came in, he said I don’t have a first degree and I want to carry on,I need to shut this Doctor of Education Programme down, go back and get my first degree. 

She said she chose to withdraw from her programme and pursue a Bachelor in Education program at the Fulton Adventist University College. 

“I lost my dad in March and my mother in May of that year, 2018 and then September 2019 I lost my older brother so the people who used to cheer me on at home were no longer here. I wish my mum was here, she would have been so proud. 

“To be able to do something for women, especially iTaukei women, is humbling because we have so much potential, but our men must support us.”

Doctorate of Education graduate Atelini Vesikula Bai after the University of Fiji graduation at the Saweni campus in Lautoka on December 15, 2023. Photo: Salote Qalubau

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