BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
Prime Minister Sogavare has fulfilled his promise to 40 schools that participated in Last year’s (2021) National secondary school games (NSSG).
He hands over the $10,000-00 voucher for 40 schools during his site visit to the PG2023 facilities and the High-Performance centre -Solomon Island National Institute of Sport (SINIS).
Prime Minister Sogavare and his delegation visits the two facilities on 29 July last month.
The Hon. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare previously promised that the schools will receive his pledge to boost their preparation for the next NSSG in the future.
During the visit, he said that one of the biggest challenges that contribute to the deferment of this year’s (2022) NSSG games is the financial impact of COVID19 and the November 2021 riot.
“Those are the issues that have limited our financial capacity to host this year’s games, for this reason, we will not host the 2022 NSSG this year, “he said.
“This year the government’s dedication is to what is called the learning Loss Recovery Strategy, where the focus is to help schools recover from the impacts of COVID-19.
“This includes a huge slash on the school calendar from 40 weeks to 27 weeks. This means schools need to do a lot to recover students from learning loss in terms of curriculum coverage and learning of foundation skills in the remaining months.
“It gives me immense pleasure to fulfil the pledge I made a year ago to assist our participating schools with sports equipment. Please use the equipment well and enhance your sporting abilities. You are all future medal winners for our country.
Prime Minister Sogavare said that since the Solomon Islands will host the 17th PG in November 2023 and it is his hope that some of the Country’s students will represent the country in the game.
“I trust that some of the medals we pursue will be won by some of the students who partook during the NSSG last year,” said Hon Sogavare.
Only six (6) schools turn up to receive their vouchers, while schools who do not make it on the day will consult the responsible staff at the MEHRD to purchase theirs.
