News - Fire at Adventist school

Beulah College’s library, canteen and five classrooms were destroyed by fire on May 19.

Tongan school counts fire cost
Vaini, Tonga

A fire in the early hours of the morning of May 19 caused extensive damage to buildings at Tonga’s Beulah College but did not disrupt classes or exam preparation.
Believed to be caused by an electrical fault, the fire destroyed the college’s library, canteen and five classrooms, with damage estimated at $TOP400,000. With students away for Tonga’s Father’s Day holiday weekend, no students were injured by the fire at the boarding school.
“Through God’s ever-present leading and the support of a dedicated community of students, staff, parents, church members, ex-students and friends, students and staff have adjusted well during these difficult times,” reports college principal Mele Waqa Vaihola.
“At the moment, we are using the two science labs, home economics, computer and staff rooms for classrooms,” she says. “We are facing the problem of not having enough desks and chairs. We cater for that by seating four or five students per desk at the limited desks we still have. We are now using chairs from the nearby Adventist church, which are enough.
“One major problem is our library. With most of our student textbooks and teaching resources gone, we have no reading materials for the students,” says Ms Vaihola.
An architect has assessed the burnt buildings to determine whether they will need to be demolished or may be repaired and renovated.—Record staff