Sit up straight and do what you're told!

from w
Orders from the top (in Suva of course) now require Fiji children (in the bush, in the islands, in the towns) to start school at 9 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. and still finish at 3 p.m. So they lose one hour of schooling every day, so what happens to timetables and subjects deemed to be less important? Will they push art and music and physical education aside now? Seems like this directive from Suva hasn't been thought through very well. Are the bus companies happy about this? What about families who drop children off on the way to work? Will this new ruling change when daylight saving moves in late April?

from Fijilive:
School start hours extended
February 19, 2010 06:34:20 AMA+ A-| || Fiji school hours will begin from 9am and not 8am as of Monday 22, the Education Ministry has confirmed.

Teachers however are expected to be at school by 8:00am.

Education minister Filipe Bole said the changes had to be made because of the extended daylight savings in place that is affecting school children and their parents who have to prepare for school while it is still dark.

Bole said this was especially so for those who reside in interior places, who could be at risk because they travel to school under near dark conditions.

Senior education officials have been instructed by the Permanent Secretary to immediately inform their respective schools on the change.

The Ministry has also advised the Land Transport Authority about the new school hours so that transport providers are aware.

The daylight savings began last year on November 29 and will end on April 25.

History syllabus that should be history

from w
Are they serious that the current history syllabus taught in Fiji schools is the same as that of the 60s? Sobosobo, that was colonial! Before Independence, before coup culture! I once taught history in Fiji secondary schools and know now how biased it all was to a British colonial frame of reference, and it was then so limited in books and real understanding of the processes that create change. If the article is correct, then certainly there does need an update.
from radio Fiji:
History syllabus under review
Saturday, December 12, 2009

Members of the Fiji Islands History Association met to examine and review the Fiji School Leaving Certificate History syllabus that is currently being taught in schools. The team was made up of History academics from the University of the South Pacific, History teachers from various schools around the country and former graduates of the programme and a representative from the Education Ministry.

Senior Lecturer for History and Politics at USP Dr Morgan Tuimalealiifano says the current prescription taught in schools was prescribed in 1960 and 49 years later, teachers who are currently teaching the subject were also taught the same syllabus. He says the aim of the workshop is to revise, update as currently there is a mismatch between what is taught at University and what is taught in the classroom.

Less staff for Fiji schools

from w
From 787 experienced teachers to 434 young graduate teachers. Now that means a loss of about 350 staff in the Fiji schools. Many classrooms already have large numbers of children, up to 50 in one class so really they should be adding to, not subtracting. I was saddened to hear that the principals of both Jasper Williams High School and Dudley High School had to leave last week because of this over-55 retirement decree.

Anyway; here's a thought for the people of Fiji -
Life Isn't About Waiting For The Storm To Pass~It's About Learning To Dance In The Rain.... if you can!


No re-employment for teachers: BoleThursday, May 07, 2009

Bole says they have to comply with the 10% eduction in the size of the civil service.

The Education Ministry will not re-employ those 787 teachers who have retired last month. Education Minister Filipe Bole says they have acquired the number of teachers to fill the vacant positions left by the retirees and there is no need for the re-engagement of any of them since they are reducing the number of its human resource. He says this is to comply with the 10% reduction in the size of the civil service without compromising the quality of education.

The Ministry has a total of 439 unemployed graduates who are ready to be recruited into the teaching force. These new recruits will continue the effective operation of all schools and allow for the delivery of quality education to the children of Fiji. Meanwhile all new teachers recruited for maritime schools will be transported to their respective schools by the government boat.

Fiji Broadcasting Corporation LTD

A whinge for today

from w
Sobosobo, the priority I think is health, education, infrastructure such as roads, water, etc. and as the President of the Fijian Teachers Association says, no way should the education budget be cut by sacking teachers. Already some children are in classes of up to seventy children and that is absolutely untenable. Cut the budget elsewhere....and it's obvious where it should be... but not in the schools!From FijiSun today:
Leave teachers out of cuts, says union

12/8/2008
Government should exclude the education ministry from the budget reduction by 10 per cent said Fijian Teachers Association president, Tevita Koroi yesterday.
He said 1300 positions would be disestablished when the civil service reform is completed.

Speaking at the Civil Service Excellence Awards on Friday night, minister for indigenous affairs Ratu Epeli Nailatikau said the reforms would save the interim government $21 million.

Mr Koroi pleaded with the government not to include the education ministry in the 10 per cent reduction. “It will affect the quality of service in schools,” he said.“As a result students are affected by this. The 10 per cent reduction means there will be a $20 million reduction in the ministry of education’s budget.

“900 teaching positions will be affected and this is a huge number for a small country. So for the sake and future of our children we are asking the government to exclude the education ministry in the proposed public service reform.”

Fiji Islands Council of Trade Unions general secretary Attar Singh said removing that amount of people would definitely affect the quality of services.“The government is making announcements and going ahead with its decisions,” said Mr Singh. However, it has yet to consult unions on this proposal.”

Never give up on street kids

from w
A feel-good story was in today's Fiji Times about a street-kid going back to school and doing well. Another article was about his school - Lami High School which has been criticized for not producing outstanding results all around. Come on guys - don't blame the teachers. Someone in the Education Department wants to shuffle teachers around based on the kids' results! This school apparently takes in kids who might not be accepted elsewhere and if a kid goes from a D to a C well that's okay. Not all kids will get lots of A results. Anyway, congratulations to this young man.

Former shoeshine boy tops schoolERNEST HEATLEY
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
A FORMER shoeshine boy who spent two and a half years roaming the streets of Sura was named Dux of the Year at Lami High School yesterday.

Maikeli Pio Bale, 19, topped the school in four subjects Agriculture, English, Chemistry and Biology. He said he was motivated by his street struggles and encouraged by his grand-uncle, who adopted him when he was a child after his parents split up. "I just thought of all the struggles I had while I was in that situation and I thought to myself that I had the potential to go in the opposite direction and achieve whatever I want," he said.

Having come from a broken family, Maikeli was moved from school to school and spent time in his village of Tukavesi at Buca Bay in Vanua Levu about three years ago.

In 2000, he was beaten up by soldiers for breaking a curfew. Two years later, he was pulled off the streets by his granduncle and made to sit for his intermediate exam which he passed. But he returned to the streets and started shining shoes for a living and sleeping rough.

Eventually, Maikeli said he learnt the error of his ways and, like a prodigal son, returned home, went back to school and started going to church regularly. "I still meet my street-kid friends in town once in a while. They try to influence me back but I just tell them to go back to school," he said. Maikeli has now set his sights on becoming a primary school teacher.

His granduncle, Saimoni Naqete, a carpenter by trade, was a proud and a shocked man yesterday. He said Maikeli never told him how well he was doing in school.

He said he never gave up hope on his adopted child, despite his waywardness. "He was a street kid on and off for two and a half years but even while he was like that, I used to keep advising him that it was not the right way to go,'' said Mr Naqete. "Just looking at what he has achieved today is amazing because he never even told me how he had been doing in school. I came to the prize-giving not expecting to see him collect so many prizes."

Changing Fiji school holiday dates

from w
What are some of the consequences of changing the dates of school holidays suddenly?

Boarding school students somehow have had to find fares to go home earlier than planned.
Parents have to make sure the children are supervised in the next two weeks and perhaps change their own holiday plans.
The schools that provide accommodation and hospitality for the Methodist Choir Competition have to make different arrangments.

The Hibiscus Festival dates cannot be brought back to provide entertainment for families. (Well, there will be less money spent I guess.)
The South Pacific Games in Samoa is scheduled to co-incide with school holidays in Pacific Island nations and many of Fiji's athletes are young and of school age and now they will go away and miss school.

Some of the problems have been pointed out by the Methodist Church but so far the answer is no change to the altered dates.

State rejects church's request

1644 FJT Fiji TimesMonday, August 06, 2007

Update: 4.44pm THE Methodist Church of Fiji plans to seek an audience with the interim Prime Minister on the Education Ministry's revised term two holidays. Church General Secretary, Reverend Ame Tugaue, said the ministry's plans will affect the church's annual choir competition, which is usually scheduled for the start of the second term holidays in mid-August.

During the week-long competition, participants are billeted in schools around Suva.

Last week, the church had requested that 10 schools in the capital remain open this week so students can continue classes and take their holidays next week, freeing up the schools to accomodate choirs.

This was rejected today after the ministry initially gave its approval last week.

Reverend Tugaue said, based on last week's approval, the church made radio announcements during the weekend that the festival would still go ahead on the planned dates.However, today they were informed that all schools will be closed from 6th to 17th August. The choir competition had been planned for 18 August.

Teaching religion in Fiji schools?

from w

I was surprised by a story in today's Fiji Village newes about the teaching pf religion to be compulsory in Fiji schools. I think 'optional' is the status quo at present.

Such a step surely requires a lot of thought and discussion, not just a jump-start idea from the man at the top of the bureaucracy, and an interim one at that! Perhaps the intention is based on an assumption that teaching religion will make the children behave better!

Even if some students can be excused (perhaps they are bahai or not mainstream religion in their family) it is a divisive topic in Fiji's pluralistic society. Certainly the children need to learn their cultural and religious heritage but the possibilities/probabilities of causing division/arguments are certainly there in a school situation. The volunteers/teachers need to be well trained to address the subject of religion and perhaps need a Diploma first. Volunteers may have a very narrow point of view and teaching the 'truth' of a religion is debatable as there are many variations within each religion.

It would be more interesting to teach ALL students something about several religions in an attempt at learning to respect difference.

I taught Religious Education in Fiji and Australian schools once upon a time - with a Christian bias but the material I used was about stories and was not a fundamentalist kind of view. I realize now I could have done it better as my views are more liberal these days with more respect towards people with different views.

in today's Fiji village:
Religious Classes to be Compulsory in all Schools
May 21, 2007, 07:42

The Education Ministry is now in the process of implementing a compulsory policy to ensure that all schools in the country have religious classes.

Interim Education Minister, Netani Sukanaivalu said the Education Act provides for religious classes in schools but those students and teachers who do not want to participate in the classes can be excused.

Sukanaivalu said he is now speaking to all the Christian, Muslim and Hindu leaders to ensure that they make their people available for the classes in all schools which is expected to strengthen the morals and values of the students.

Sukanaivalu also said the teachings and correct interpretation of the religious books is necessary as religion is sometimes used by certain leaders and politicians for their own personal agenda.

Meanwhile, Fijian Teachers Association General Secretary said the Interim Minister for Education should stop trying to make changes to the education system.

Maika Namudu said the call by Netani Sukanaivalu to have different religions taught in all schools is not well researched and will not work.

Fiji Teachers Union, General Secretary Agni Deo Singh could not be contacted for a comment as he is away at a conference in Singapore.