10 students of Ratu Finau Secondary School to receive Duke of Edinburgh International Awards tomorrow

Ten students of Ratu Finau Secondary School in Lakeba will be presented with certificates and medals this week after successfully completing the bronze category of the Duke of Edinburgh International Awards.

Founded by His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh with a German educationalist Kurt Hahn in 1956, the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award was the result of their concern that young people’s development was lacking in certain key areas especially in life skills and character development.

The Award was introduced in Fiji in the early 1960s at the then Derek Institute in Suva, later becoming the Fiji Institute of Technology and now Fiji National University, before responsibility was transferred to the then Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.

Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Fiji Programme Manager Olivia Tawaqa, said the ten students of Ratu Finau Secondary School are the first in the Eastern Division’s maritime islands to achieve this internationally recognized Award.

Tawaqa says that the students have fulfilled the highlighted number of hours in the three sections of the Award namely community service, skills and physical recreation with the inclusion of spending one night and two days undertaking an expedition or exploration to meet the requirement for the Adventurous Journey section of the Award.

Minister for Youth and Sports Laisenia Tuitubou, who is currently on a tour of the Eastern Division, will be officiating at the event at the school tomorrow.