PM Commissions New QVS Building
Prime Minister Bainimarama also reminded the 900 plus students that their achievements should be based on merit and not where they went to school.
Friday 10 July 2020 | 10:04
Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama at Queen Victoria School (QVS) in Matavatucou, Tailevu, to open a new school block on July 9, 2020. He was also at Dawasamu to open a new Police Post. In 2016, QVS was among the hundreds of Fijian schools devastated by Tropical Cyclone Winston. This school received an R5 damage rating – the most severe. Photo: Office of the Prime Minister
Work hard.
Stay focussed.
Be kind to your classmates.
Related stories
Fulfill your potential.
That was the key message from Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama to students across Fiji as he commissioned the new Queen Victoria School (QVS) three-storey building yesterday.
He also urged students not to take for granted Government assistance through free education including text books and subsidised bus fare for those who qualify.
The new building which includes a state of the art gymnasium cost Government $8.3 million.
More classrooms and dormitories are expected to be completed in the next few months.
Mr Bainimarama, a former Ratu Kadavulevu School and later Marist Brothers High School student joked that the gym gave QVS ruggers an unfair leg up in the Deans Trophy competition.
But he was sure that the gym would help churn out some serious rugby talent.
He also reminded the 900 plus students that their achievements should be based on merit and not where they went to school.
Traditional welcome ceremony
Mr Bainimarama was accorded a full traditional welcome by senior students.
Those who performed during the ceremony spoke in their different dialects.
This is a norm for the predominantly iTaukei boys school.
With the changing modern times, teachers saw it fit to allow students to speak in their own dialect while presenting the different facets of the traditional ceremony.
Edited by Jonathan Bryce
Feedback: rosi.doviverata@fijisun.com.fj
