A new classroom building costing $200,000 pa'anga for the Government Primary School at Ha’alalo was commissioned by the Minister for Education and Training, Hon Siaosi Sovaleni and the Japanese Ambassador to Tonga, HE Mr Tetsuya Ishii on Thursday 23 April.

The building with two classrooms and bathroom facilities, was funded through the Japanese Government’s Grant Assistance for Grass-root Human Security Project (GGP).

Hon. Sovaleni thanked the Japanese Government for recognizing the desperate plea from GPS Ha'alalo to upgrade the school to meet the growing student population from the three surrounding villages.

He said their assistance was “very timely as the Ministry of Education has been working...to increase and improve sanitation facilities and implement social distancing in all schools in the wake of COVID-19”.

He announced that an Early Childhood Education Centre (ECE) will be established at the school, now that there is room for expansion.

Fifteen Early Childhood Education Centres (ECE - kindergartens) have been opened across Tongatapu and the outer islands to better prepare young children for entry to primary school with the Japanese Government funding the construction of some ECE buildings in other villages.

The Ministry of Education also recently opened a Lifelong Learning School (Ako Tu’uloa) aimed at people who did not complete high school, giving them a second chance at education.

Hon. Sovaleni acknowledged the continuing assistance of development partners for the development of education in Tonga to meet national and global education goals, and for the provision of healthier and safer schools.