 Senilagakali was educated at Lau Provincial School and subsequently at Queen Victoria School on the main island of Viti Levu, where he studied from 1945 to 1950, when he enrolled in the Fiji School of Medicine.After graduating in 1954, he was employed in the health service from 1954 to 1963, serving such diverse locations as Lautoka and Levuka.In 1964, he took time out to study orthopedic surgery in Melbourne, Australia, and at the Vellore Christian Medical College Hospital in India.