Friends of Tonga is thrilled to announce the official groundbreaking of the Tu’anuku Kindergarten!
Located in the northern island group of Vava’u, Tu’anuku is a rural village that was in need of space for early-childhood education. They officially requested our support earlier this year. This will be Friends of Tonga’s second weather-resistant school building project undertaken in the Kingdom of Tonga. We built the first weather-resistant kindergarten in 2021 on the island of ‘Eua.
For this project, we have once again partnered with the nonprofit Schools for Children of the World, who have successfully constructed hundreds of state-of-the-art classrooms and school complexes around the world. Likewise, we have partnered with The Civil Society Forum of Tonga to assist in managing the logistics and the day-to-day operations of the construction project.
Projects like these are becoming increasingly necessary as climate change continues to pose an ever-present risk to communities around the world–especially in Oceania. Severe weather events, like cyclones and tsunamis, directly impact student achievement and rates of literacy. This is because students from impacted communities spend more time out of the classroom, while the community recovers and rebuilds. As highlighted in UNESCO’s 2023 Monitoring and Evaluating Climate Communication and Education Project (MECCE) profile for Tonga, constructing weather resistant schools is one way to ensure students have more days in the classroom and better educational outcomes despite increased risk with climate change.
This project could not have been undertaken without the generous donations from individuals and organizations across the globe. A special thank you to Charles Piutau and the Bristol Bears for the fundraising efforts back in 2022. It was Mr. Piutau’s wish that part of the money they raised for the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption be spent on a classroom project. Likewise, thank you once again to both Edrington and The Atlas Foundation for donating to this project.
Lastly, thank you to all of the individual donors who continue to support our efforts. We believe projects like these to be good international development: needs identified by the community and funded and implemented through stakeholders who care. Without supporters like you, our impact and reach would be far less than what it is. You are truly making a difference in the lives of students, teachers, and parents across the Kingdom of Tonga.
This is truly a team effort and we are grateful to everyone who chooses to be on the Friends of Tonga Team!
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