THE government of Japan through its embassy in the country yesterday released an assistance of $520,000 to Vavalu Primary school in central Guadalcanal.
The signing to avail funds for the project was held at the embassy.
Chairman of the school Solomon Rata said that it was the first time for the school to receive such assistance.
“The school was established in 1988 but never received such big assistance from anyone,” Mr Rata said.
He said the assistance was a huge boost to the school board, management and parents.
“We have tried many times in the past to get assistance but to no avail.”
Mr Rata said Japan has finally come to their rescue which will enable them to build a two-deck building to accommodate classes one to six.
Ambassador of Japan Kenichi Kimiya said Japan was happy to help in the education sector of this country.
“One of the priority areas of our assistance under the Grassroots and Human Security Project Scheme in the Solomon Islands is supporting basic education through the construction of School facilities such as classroom building for students.
“Education plays key role for the development, we strongly believed that this project will have positive impacts on producing a large number of human resources in Guadalcanal province, and moreover, it will lead to further development and prosperity of the Solomon Islands for many years to come,” Mr Kimiya said.
He said that Japan is very pleased to contribute to the development of Solomon Islands.
“I would like to emphasize that today is just the beginning for you and your school to have huge responsibilities to facilitate proper implementation and community involvement on the project under your strong leadership since your project proposal has been chosen as one of the eight projects for this year against more than hundred proposals coming from all the provinces.”
I would like to congratulate you once again and wish to see the successful completion of the project in the near future,” the ambassador said.
By LESLEY SANGA