FIJI CHOIR TOURS N.Z.

Press, Volume C, Issue 29712, 4 January 1962, Page 2

FIJI CHOIR TOURS N.Z.

Adi Cakobau Pupils

The choir of Adi Cakobau School, Fiji, is now touring New Zealand.

The school was the Fiji Government’s first venture into higher education for Fijian girls. Pupils are selected by entrance examination. Fewer than one in 20 of those who apply, and one in 10 of those selected to sit the examination, are successful in securing a place. Pupils take English language and literature, Fijian history, geography, chemistry, biology, health science, nutrition, mathematics or handcraft. Housecraft and cooking as non-examination subjects are taken up to and including form five by all pupils, and dressmaking up to form six. From form four onwards, a small group take a commercial course and another has science, English, Fijian, dressmaking, and cooking. Both groups sit for the New Zealand school certificate examination, followed by a five-subject university entrance examination course. School-leavers enter the Central Nursing School; the Central Medical School for training as assistant medical officers. assistant dental officers, dietitians and physiotherapists; and the various Government offices as clerks and stenographers. Two past pupils are studying for degrees at Auckland University, and two more will begin this year. So far, only one Fijian woman has obtained a university degree. Self-discipline and a sense of responsibility are encouraged at the school, which is to a large extent self-governing. Tradition is building innate standards of conduct, so that discipline is no real problem. The school attempts to take a full part in the activities of the rural community and runs several clubs for village schoolgirls, young women, mothers, and boys.