The school now approaches its 20th year of existence. To mark this important mile
stone, our Board has decided to celebrate it with a reunion of old students,
teachers and friends who were closely connected with the school over all these
years. At the same time we will also celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Primary
School so as to make the event more significant. Planning for this celebration is
well underway. We expect a good turn out as there has already been interest shown
by many overseas people who were either ex students or ex teachers of the school.
The dates for the event have been set for 6th to 9th July, 2006.
In September, our Community celebrated the 150th Anniversary of the arrival of the first Chinese to the country. The celebration included the display of cultural items performed by members of the Chinese Youths Social and Cultural Association whose members were mainly students from our school. Our students also took part in a march through the main streets of Suva organized by members of the Chinese Community to mark the occasion. The last time the Chinese community took part in such an event through the streets of Suva was to celebrate the end of Second World War.
As part of the above celebrations, the Chinese Archway in front of the school was officially opened by representatives from donor organizations from China. Those who were there witnessed a very colorful event. We are proud that we now have an icon to represent our community in Fiji.
Over the last year we have been working on the provision of new technology subjects, namely Woodwork and Home Economics, to be introduced in the 2006 school year as part of the Ministry of Education's compulsory subjects. The woodwork room is ready and we are now finalizing on the fittings to the home economics room and this should be ready before the start of the new school year.
We have been working on the recognition of the results by the Fiji Ministry of Education of the Australian HSC Chinese exams that our students have been sitting for the last number of years; progress has been very slow but at a recent meeting between the writer and representatives of the NSW Board of Studies, there should be some fruition to this issue very shortly. Our Board looks forward to the recognition as this would definitely encourage more students in taking up the subject.
We are very sad to have to bid farewell to our School Administrator/Accountant, Mrs. Helen Hansji at the end of this year. She is moving to greener pastures after some 7years with us. She ran the Administration Office most efficiently and kept a tight control on school finances. She has been a great help to the Board and to the school managers. She ran the school canteen as though it were her own constantly introducing new and exciting meals for our students. We will miss her and I am sure all at Yat Sen will wish her well.
We are now at the end of another year. I trust that all our students had performed well at their Annual Exams. For those who are leaving us, I hope you have benefited
from the education you received at Yat Sen and wish you well in your future endeavors.
Gregory Yee
Chairman, Chinese Education Society of Fiji