Please hear me out

Sangeeta Devi Alexander, Lautoka

I am a common citizen and also a mother of a child with special needs, suffering from multiple disabilities and schooling at a special school in the West. 

Through this column I want to expeditiously reach to the Minister for Education. Sir, I have been made to run around to get an outcome regarding my formal complaint to the Ministry of Education to take action on what difficulty my child with special needs had to go through at school in an effort to acquire the desired special education, child protection, and duty of care.

Although I had made an earnest request to the ministry that I  be given a fair  opportunity to present evidence to the  investigating ethics team  I was not permitted to do so, but told that my case can take a long time and that there is no timeframe when a decision would be made .

I have exhausted the  protocol and all channel of communication  with  officials at the  Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts and the way my complaint has been dealt and delayed  with no responses forthcoming despite the school ending for holidays. It appears that  my  case has  been  purposely shelved without discipline and action.  I appeal for justice.

Safe holidays

Spencer Robinson, Suva

The third term of the school has come to an end of yet another challenging and exciting year.

The media has been flooded with amazing and inspiring stories of academic achievements for our primary and secondary school students.

Thank you teachers for showing that your profession is truly a noble one.

Dan Rather once said that: “The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you on to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth.” On the other hand, Andy Rooney simply and powerfully describes teachers as: “Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives.’

We must also thank and cherish the sacrifice and hard work of our parents, guardians and the Government for embracing the importance of educating our future leaders.

While education is not purely about training and stimulating the mind, it is also about instilling moral values.

The Dalai Lama once shared: “When educating the minds of your youth, we must not forget to educate their hearts.”

In addition, I must kindly remind parents and guardians on the importance of being more vigilant of our children during the school holidays.

Parents and guardians please take proactive approach in monitoring your children’s whereabouts to prevent the unthinkable.

Students please think before you act and always make the right choices in life. 

All in all, I wish all students the very best in your much needed school break and remember to always respect your parents and guardians.

League Favour?

Floyd Robinson, Suva

Did the Vodafone Fijian Bati do New Zealand a rugby league favour?

Almost effectively immediately after the defeat to Fiji, they initiated a review process on the management of New Zealand Rugby League including the possibility of an expatriate coach.

Well, for now the second defeat to a Pacific Team must be hard to swallow. Meanwhile, congratulations to the Bati side for making it to the semi-finals again.

Overall, their performance has been good with improvements to defence and teamwork.

Against Australia, we paid the price for making mistakes against a super side. Whilst we await a possible play for third place, the bigger question is how we start preparing for the next world cup and more importantly, identifying more opportunities for our local-based players who deserve the experience of playing high quality rugby league outside of Fiji.

French rugby

Amenatave Yaconisau, Delainavesi

The French team was frustrated by the counter-attacks of the Japanese rugby team. The French were ready to expose them to their bigger forward pack but securing victory was hard.

All French strongpoints were relentlessly attacked by Japanese players.

Just what the Emperor ordered! 23 all.

Feedback:  jyotip@fijisun.com.fj