Dual cyclones cause massive damage
In March 2023, Vanuatu was struck by two severe tropical cyclones, Judy and Kevin, within days of each other. The back-to-back disasters caused widespread damage to homes, infrastructure and essential services, including schools and classroom resources. UNICEF reported that an estimated 149,000 people, including 58,000 children, were affected, while around 100 of Vanuatu’s 288 schools were initially reported to have sustained damage.
For schools, the impact of a natural disaster extends beyond damage to buildings. Teaching materials, books, furniture and other classroom resources can be lost or destroyed, making it harder for teachers and students to resume normal learning. UNICEF documented classrooms in Port Vila where books, tables, chairs and other teaching materials were damaged by the cyclones.
In response, the Melanie Jewson Foundation’s 2022–23 EOFY Learning for Life campaign raised funds to support the replacement of learning resources damaged or destroyed by the cyclones across Shefa Province. Working with Vanuatu’s Ministry of Education & Training, MJF sought to ensure that replacement resources addressed priorities identified locally and aligned with existing teaching programs.
Our response
Following consultation with the Ministry, numeracy kits were identified as a priority. MJF subsequently provided 26 class kits for Years 3 and 4 to the Ministry’s Curriculum Development Unit, with a total project cost of $28,496.
The kits were sourced through Read Pacific and designed to support practical, hands-on mathematics learning. Each class kit contains a range of resources including abacuses, counters, dominoes, flash cards, fraction circles, measuring cups, play money, clocks, stopwatches, activity cards, blocks, cubes and dice. Bilingual times-table charts, calendars and maps are also included.
Rather than supplying resources to individual schools on a one-off basis, the kits were provided through the Ministry so they could be distributed according to identified need and shared between classrooms. This approach supports the Ministry’s role in coordinating educational resources and enables materials to reach schools where they can contribute most directly to restoring classroom learning following disaster.
The project also demonstrates the value of partnership in delivering education support. Read Pacific generously covered the freight and distribution costs, allowing MJF’s funding to be directed towards the learning resources themselves.
Investment in learning materials is an important part of disaster recovery. The World Bank identifies Vanuatu as highly vulnerable to natural hazards and notes that strengthening the resilience of education systems is critical in a country where schools and communities are repeatedly affected by cyclones, earthquakes and other hazards.
For MJF, the Learning for Life project represents a practical contribution to that resilience: replacing essential classroom resources, supporting teachers with appropriate teaching tools, and helping students return to effective numeracy learning after a major disaster.
