Fijian students affected by cyclone to have classes in tents

A number of schools in Fiji's Western Division will be forced to go on with the classes in makeshift tents in 2013 affected by tropical cyclone Evan that hit the country earlier this month, an education official said Friday.

Lorima Voravora, divisional education officer west, placed the initial damage assessment for education at 2.8 million U.S. dollars for western schools alone. The figure could increase as government officials continued with repair assessments.

"We have less than a few weeks left and that is our main concern. We are working against time here and a lot of things have to be done to get the schools back up and running," Voravora told the Fiji Times.

"Because of that we have contingency plans in place like we might have to put up makeshift classrooms or tents for the students when school starts next year."

"There was a lot of damage and we have been working round-the- clock to assess the situation at every school and after this we will put together a final cost of damage," he said.

Some schools were completely wiped out by tropical cyclone Evan, according to Voravora.

The Ministry of Works has confirmed its involvement in rehabilitation works for damaged schools in the west. Permanent secretary for Works, Commander Francis Kean said the ministry has been tasked by the National Disaster Management Office to assist the Ministry of Education in the damage assessment of all school in the Western Division.