DIVIT CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY, FEAST DAY & HANDING OVER OF NEW CLASSROOM BUILDING

A celebration of 50 years of achievement saw students, staffs and surrounding communities gather at the Our Lady of Visitation Divit Girls Training Centre in Visale, West Guadalcanal on Wednesday.

The centre celebrated its 5Oth anniversary, Feast Day and the handing over of its new classroom building.

First known as the Nazareth Apolostic Centre based at Tenaru, the center was established by the Daughters of Mary Immaculate (DMI) sisters with the aim of providing basic skills and training for girls in rural communities, to enable them to develop their standard of living.

Priorities then was for females as the formal education sector in those days gives more privilege to men than women.

The founders than developed a program based on the Christian principles and DMI Congregation philosophy, where sewing and gardening formed the curricular and became what is known as the District Village Training Centre (DIVIT).

Early days of the centre saw DMI sisters Sr. Anna Ta’aia and Late Sr. Dona Kauhiri as its first trainers.

Operated under the catholic church, it was until November 1999 that the center was officially registered as a Vocational Training Centre.

The DMI sisters sacrifice and devotion in getting the centre to what it is today were praised by many during the anniversary celebrations.

With the support of the Marist Mission Centre, the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development through the Solomon Islands Technical Education Authority (SITESA), and the Australia Pacific Technical College (APTC) the institution now has an additional classroom building providing more space for students.

School Principal Sr. Daniella Tovatada says reaching 50 years is a great achievement for the school.

She said the new classroom building is also a timely addition to their facilities.

“Today is a great day for us as reaching 50 years is a great achievement. It is also a joyous one as we are also celebrating the Feast Day and the handing over of our new classroom building.”

“This building will also encourage more young girls to enroll at this centre to gain knowledge and skills as the issue we had before was lack of space. Now with the new classrooms, we are looking forward to having more girls enrolled here,” she said.

Meanwhile, student Samantha Tahiseu also acknowledged the support of donors and partners towards the new classroom building.

“As a student, I am grateful that we now have a new classroom building as it will provide a more clean and comfortable learning environment for us. Past years we sometimes even sit on the floor when doing our studies but now  with the new chairs and tables, that will no longer be an issue for us.

I want to thank all who contributed in making this possible and I urge our staff to continue the close collaboration and partnership it has with our donors.”

The institution currently have 17 students enrolled under its programmes.

ENDS//