Students attending a primary school at one of the furthest points in Samoa from the Apia township will soon enjoy learning facilities just as good as students living in town.

Courtesy of the government of Japan, Papa Sataua Primary School in Savai’i will benefit from $226,000 grant designed to ensure access to education for all and improve basic education facilities at grassroots level.

The grant signing ceremony was held at the Embassy of Japan in Apia yesterday.

Ambassador of Japan to Samoa, Maugaoleatuolo Shinya Aoki signed on behalf of his government while the President of the school committee, Tauatele Taumaia signed on behalf of the school.

The grant assistance provided over to the school was made possible by Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grass-Roots Human Security Project commonly known as the GGP.

The project is set to reconstruct a new 8 classroom complex that will benefit the current school roll of about 100 students with 5 teachers.

The current school building is about 20 years old and it’s deteriorated due to desperate and hastened work carried out by the villagers in order to provide a proper school facility for their children back in the years, which prompted the school committee to seek funding assistance from the Embassy of Japan in 2017.

The long-term objective of this project is to ensure that students of Papa Sataua Primary School are provided with quality education and improved health sanitation.

The GGP is a flexible and timely funding scheme which supports community level socio- economic development projects initiated by civil society organizations addressing people’s basic human needs, reflecting Japanese Government’s strong commitment to uphold the concept of “human security”.

The GGP scheme intends to contribute to improvements in various fields including health, education, environmental protection as well as social welfare sector.