Originally from Malekula, Nalet said she saw a need to support children and communities in TORBA.

“I saw that the literacy of TORBA Province is very low, so that’s why I came to help the communities around TORBA Province in terms of literacy,” she said.

TORBA has been identified by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) as having some of the lowest adult literacy and language proficiency indices in the country, prompting specialised regional adult training programmes.

Nalet said Little Footprints aims to help address the challenge by starting with children at an early age.

The school provides childcare for children from six months of age, as well as kindergarten and Class 1 education.

She said its vision is to provide a safe environment while giving children a strong foundation for future learning.

“The foundation of learning starts when they are still children,” Nalet said.

Little Footprints currently has over 30 children enrolled across its different levels. About 18 are in childcare, around 13 are in kindergarten, and another four to five are attending Class 1.

However, Nalet said establishing the school was not easy, particularly because private early childhood education was a new concept for some communities in TORBA.

She said it initially faced backlash from community members who did not fully understand its purpose and goals.

“Since it’s a really new thing to establish in TORBA Province, the challenge I faced was receiving backlash from the community since they still had zero knowledge about the school and its exact purpose,” she said.

Nalet said the community response gradually changed as parents began seeing the benefits and the development of their children.

“Once they know how a child is developing, like its quality, they start getting their kids to school,” she said.

She believes the growing acceptance demonstrates the importance of early childhood education in preparing children for future learning.

Beyond educating children, Little Footprints also aims to strengthen teachers through training and professional development.

Nalet said it hopes to improve teachers’ knowledge and skills so they can become resourceful members of their communities.

It currently has one administrator, one chef, one childcare teacher, two kindergarten teachers and one Class 1 teacher.

Healthy food is also part of its approach to childcare, with a chef employed to prepare meals for the children.

Despite its progress, Nalet said the school continues to face challenges, including limited space and suitable buildings to accommodate the children and provide facilities such as a playground.

Little Footprints has also recently established a small stationery and printing service. Nalet said accessing stationery and other school supplies in TORBA can be difficult, so the service was created to support both the school and the wider community.

The school operates privately and has not received funding from the Government or any organisation.

Nalet said she hopes to see greater cooperation between the school, community and Government as Little Footprints works towards its goal of improving literacy in TORBA.

For Nalet, establishing the school represents a new chapter after more than a decade working in early childhood education.

“To start off something is really difficult, but once you started and things go according to your plans and goals, and you worked hard for it, you can achieve it,” she said.

She also thanked parents for trusting the school and enrolling their children.

Nalet said her long-term goal is to work in partnership with the people of TORBA to improve children’s access to education and help raise literacy levels across the province.

“We established here to work together as partnership to help our children, for their learning and to fight the literacy rate which is very low,” she said.

SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST