17th May 2016 School apparatus were handed over to Tonga High School yesterday morning donated by a delegation to Tonga from Dongguan City, Guangdong Province in China.
The donation included 12 laptops, 30 computers, schoolbags, stationaries and sports apparatus.
The Acting Prime Minister of Tonga and Minister of MEIDECC Hon Siaosi Sovaleni who was the guest of honour of the handover ceremony told students that ICT was the key tool to make services accessible.
“ICT is a key tool for sustainable development and should be accessible to all. It can make health and education services more accessible, can transform government services to be more efficient and less costly, it can also ensure a better managed disaster response and provide early warning system,” he said.
Hon Sovaleni said there was a need to build Tonga’s ICT capacity and expertise.
“We need to build our ICT capacity and expertise, we need to have an ICT literate workforce, we need students to be ICT literate and to undertake ICT studies.”
“The donation of these computers will greatly contribute to these key undertakings. It will help students with their studies and better prepare them to tertiary studies as you definitely need to know how to use a computer when you are in university or similar institutions.”
Hon Sovaleni thanked the Deputy Mayor of Dongguan for the assistance and relayed his hopes that this would be the beginning of a partnership between Tonga High School and Dongguan City.
Guangdong’s Province Director General of Education Ms Liang Fengming said the school has witnessed the friendship between Tonga and China.
“Tonga High School witnessed the friendship between China and Tonga people when the new campus of Tonga High School was built with assistance of the Chinese government 11 years ago,” she said.
“Today I am honoured to have brought you computers, schoolbags and stationaries and sports apparatus which we hope can help improve this school’s educational conditions and renew the friendship between China and Tonga.”
Apart from donating gifts, the delegation’s visit aimed to promote good cooperation between Dongguan and Tonga and to build a sister relations between Dongguan and Ha’apai.
ENDS
Issued from the Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change and Communications