schools

Campaigners are celebrating the ruling, saying giving more children access to sex and relationship information from an early age will be beneficial.

It means faith schools, where sex education has previously been limited, will now teach pupils about sex.

However, parents will still be able to opt children out of these classes.

The ruling is "really important" as it will equip young people with essential information on sex and relationships, Laura Hannah, the education and training manager for leading UK sexual health charity Brook, says.

Andrew Hogan of Optometry Australia sees a lot of children in his practice in Hobart, often when parents or teachers notice one of those symptoms.

"Kids won't complain about blurry vision," he told Helen Shield on ABC Radio Hobart.

"Kids who aren't paying attention [in class], sometimes it's simply because they can't see and they don't realise that everyone else can see, because they've got nothing to compare it to."

The Tourism information office in the centre of town has been experiencing an increase in the number of high school students coming in to request information related to individual assignments. 

All government schools started their programmes this week.

But in Shefa and Tafea provinces many schools still have damaged facilities due to the cyclone while some parents affected by drought have struggled to pay fees.

This was sealed in an agreement signed by Bishop of the Anglican Dioceses of Vanuatu and New Caledonia, Bishop James Ligo, and the caretaker Minister of Education, Toara Daniel, on Friday marking the historical event.

One of the main projects for the force's Tropic Twilight exercise is the relocation and rebuilding of the fuel depot on Penrhyn.

New Zealand's Foreign Minister Murray McCully says improving fuel storage will enable better use of the patrol boat Te Kukupa to carry out fisheries surveillance around the islands.

The force's engineers will also upgrade buildings on Manihiki.

The exercise will involve China, the United States, the UK and France and is aimed at testing the force's abilities to provide disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.

Twenty two positions are currently being advertised including five jobs for principals and eight jobs at the main secondary school Tereora College.

There are also seven other vacancies at primary and secondary schools in the country.

A Director of Human Resources with the government Terry Utaga says an example of the problem is the field of accounting where potential applicants for an accounting teacher job prefer to stick to higher paying jobs outside teaching.

The ministry of education says there is a serious shortage of funds, saying it doesn't have the money to pay for fuel for its vehicles, But it has plans to submit a supplementary budget to cover wages.

Arsen Firiam is the President of the Vanuatu Teacher's Union.

He says teachers are yet to be added to the ministry pay roll, while many older teachers who should have retired are waiting on their retirement payout.