There is a general call at the Fijian Teachers Association (FTA) 89th Annual Delegates Conference to bring back corporal punishment in schools.

This is to instill discipline in students, says FTA general secretary Paula Manumanunitoga.

School Rules

“In the olden days, students would follow the school rules right to the latter,” Mr Manumanunitoga said.

“Nowadays it’s gotten worse.

Every day is getting worse and there are never-ending discipline issues in schools.

“Students are taking school rules lightly. The school rules state no drugs in school, yet students still bring in drugs and even ‘suki’.

Students bring this every day. They bring rolls of marijuana. They bring glue every day. When spot checks in classrooms are conducted, these things are found in their bags.

It’s becoming haywire now in the school and there’s total lack of respect for teachers.”

Fijian Teachers Association members during the FTA 89th Annual Delegates Conference at the FTA hall on August 29, 2023. Photo: Ronald Kumar

Escalating discipline cases

He said this had become a burden to teachers and they were getting stressed from escalating discipline cases in schools.

On Tuesday, over 300 teachers underwent health screening. 90 per cent of them had hypertension, Mr Manumanunitoga said.

“Hypertension is because of stress levels. So these are the issues that we tried to discuss and come up with solutions.

“There are so many disciplinary issues in schools right now and we are trying our best to come up with solutions.

” Even in primary schools right now there have been instances where students refuse to write.”

With the rise in discipline cases, the FTA is recommending to the Ministry of Education to train more counsellors and post one counsellor per school instead of having one in each district.

This is to try and cut down on the increase in discipline cases in schools, Mr Manumanunitoga said.

The FTA 89th Annual Delegates Conference concluded yesterday.

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