Radrodro: Teachers Deserve Pay Raise

Minister for Education, Aseri Radrodro, has reassured teachers that their plea for a salary increase will be prioritised.

Mr Radrodro says he will ensure that the teachers get what they deserve.

He is currently in talks with the ministries responsible to ensure that this is considered in the upcoming national budget.

“The ministry is already in consultation with the Ministry of Civil Service and the Ministry of Finance to accommodate the teachers’ salary review to ensure proper, fair, and justified salary adjustments for teachers,” Mr Radrodro said.

The National Budget announcement is eagerly awaited by the ministry.

The minister announced that the ministry paid out $1.06 million in February to the confirmed teachers in their positions.

“In the meantime, the Education permanent secretary has briefed me that in the recent month of February 2024, during the ministry regularisation exercise, a total of 1420 staff were confirmed in their positions with a total payout of $1.06 million.”

“Salary step-up adjustments consisting of 739 early childhood education teachers, 3993 primary and secondary assistant teachers, and 152 non-teaching teachers were also given out with a total allocation of $3 million.”

Mr Radrodro said he had started talks with the teacher unions last year, acknowledging the importance of investing in teachers.

“This is to provide them with salaries that recognise the important role they play in educating our children and providing Fiji with a workforce for our future. The ministry has also noted the high level of resignations by teachers as they pursue a career outside of Fiji,” he said.

“We believe these issues must and can be resolved, and we will continue to advocate for all teachers so they get their owed salary and all accompanied allowances they are entitled to.”

Teachers had their last pay increment during the civil service reform with the Job Evaluation in 2017.

“It was during this reform that the teachers’ pay was reclassified from the ED grade to Bands, which is currently in force. This was done across the civil service, where positions were evaluated,” Mr Radrodro said.

“The salary band introduced replaced the ED position in the ministry. The 2017 salary band did not take into consideration the roll of the school as a determinant of the level of the school, which in turn had a bearing on the salary of the postholders in the school.

“For instance, the salary of a vice principal in a small school with 100 students is the same as that of a vice principal in a large school with 1000 students. The assistant principal positions are classified in the same salary band as the Head of Departments in secondary schools, despite having different job descriptions.”

Moreover, the 2017 job evaluation process overlooked crucial aspects of the teachers’ additional responsibilities for the additional payable allowance.

(i) locality of the schools: urban, rural, very remote, and maritime island schools;

(ii) the mode of the school: rural board, rural day scholar, urban day scholar, or urban board;

(iii) years of experience along with the qualifications for administration positions in the schools; and

(iv) years of leadership experience

Currently, secondary graduates in secondary schools are on Band F.

Secondary graduates in primary are in Band E.

All primary graduates are on Band E.

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