The government of Japan is helping Palauli District Primary School in Savai’i with the reconstruction project through Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project (GGP). 

The school committee received a grant of $245,000 during a grant signing ceremony held yesterday at the Embassy in Apia.

Ambassador Maugaoleatuolo Shinya Aoki, signed on behalf of his government while Tuifa’asisina Misa Risati Leleisi’uao, patron of the school committee, Member of Parliament for Palauli East and Associate Minister of Public Enterprises, signed on behalf of the school.

The project will include the reconstruction of an 8 new classroom complex.

The new school building will benefit 500 plus students educated at the school with 18 teachers.

The school received funds from the same programme in 2015 which enabled them in a reconstruction project but due to its current southern location that is easily exposed and prone to flooding in the rainy seasons with poor landscaping, have caused extreme challenges with the school committee to maintain the current run-down school building.

Thus, the school again, sought the assistance of Japan’s GGP programme in 2017 with their hope to reconstruct its school building and relocate further on the eastern part of the school compound.

Japan have been operating its GGP programme since 1991 at the grassroots level, it is recorded that most of its 180 projects that have successfully completed are within the education sector which have encouraged the lives of so many young children and villagers of several communities to prioritize education and make the best use of the available resources for achieving academic excellence.

Japan is evidently at the forefront of its partnership with the Samoan Government in promoting development at the grassroots level and the assistance to these projects indicates its firm commitment to contribute to the improvement of the living standards and welfare of the people of Samoa.