School curriculum in Fiji

from w
So what's happening to subjects such as Art, Music and Phys Ed these days. It seems there's a new curriculum afloat where subjects are going to be lumped together. My comments after the article in today's Fiji Times.

100 schools to pilot new curriculum
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Update: 12:36PM FIJI's secondary school curriculum is expected to undergo a major overhaul if the trial of the new curriculum, which aims to be broader, proves successful. The piloting of the new curriculum will be undertaken by 100 schools once teachers are trained on its delivery, said the Education Ministry in a statement.

One distinctive feature would be the merger of several similar subjects into one comprehensive field of study.

For instance, woodwork, metalwork, graphic arts and technical drawing will be merged to as the subject of Industrial Arts, just as Advanced Home Economics would be a combination of food, nutrition, clothing and textile.

The merging of subjects will reduce the number of subjects taught in schools, and consequently the number of teachers required per school.
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Now my question is will the Industrial Arts be for boys AND girls and will the Advanced Home Economics be for girls AND boys? It looks likely that they are separating the subjects according to gender. Will some girls want to do metalwork as well as graphic arts, and will some boys want to cook as well as sew? It will be interesting to see what happens. I think that it's good for boys to learn to cook at least because it's a life skill, and for girls to be able to fix a light bulb too! Our boys went to a high school where they had to do cooking and that didn't hurt them, though one of our sons did drip the custard out of the window and down the wall one time.

I taught art in Fiji and screen printing was one of the most popular and successful components. There was no set curriculum in those days and not all schools had art.

There are some brilliant artworks created by Fiji artists. Check out this website for some pictures and also the website Colour me Fiji.