The Fiji Teachers Confederation Is Concerned With Minister Premila Kumar's Remarks About Teachers

The Fiji Teachers Confederation is appalled and dismayed with the recent comments made by the Education Minister Honourable Premila Kumar while on her tour of schools around Fiji.

It is disappointing to read the Honourable Minister's comments belittling our teachers.

The Ministry directed school heads to ensure a conducive and welcoming environment before schools open to lift the morale of our students.

While the Ministry is concerned about the welfare of students, it is surprising that their very own teachers, who look after these student's welfare, are ridiculed.

This is not helpful at as far as the moral of the teachers is concerned.

There is no doubt that teachers have worked hard during the pandemic.

The second wave of the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has affected physical interactions between teachers and students for about half the year.

However, our teachers ensured the continuity of learning during this period via online classes in the form of zoom, Moodie and classroom drive.

Bulk of these teachers used personal money to purchase data in order for online teaching and learning to continue.

School administrators and teachers also made an effort to reach out to students who had issues with accessibility to internet and data.

Worksheets were prepared and delivered to these students.

A large number of teachers are involved in the verification process of vaccination, entering data and assisting parents during the vaccination process.

Other teachers were involved in humanitarian and charity work, assisting those families who were affected by COVID-19.

Since schools re-opened in September for teachers, they have been doing the hard yards to ensure the cleanliness and neatness of the school infrastructure and compound.

Our teachers have swept, mopped and washed classrooms, wiped louver blades, cleaned school washrooms, painted, made flower beds, mowed school compounds and cleaned sink basins.

These teachers assumed the roles of handyman, painter and cleaner, yet there have been little remarks made by the Honourable Education Minister to acknowledge the work done by our teachers to get schools ready for post-COVID-19 education.

It is time that the Education Ministry and the Honourable Minister pay attention to the needs of our teachers and give them due respect.

Belittling them with negative remarks will not do any teacher good.

It is important to give credit where it is due, and the Fiji Teachers Confederation believes this is important in lifting the spirits of our teachers as they persevere to recreate the classroom atmosphere to pre-covid levels.

In recent media statements the Education Minister launched an attack on teachers claiming that many teachers had poor communication skills both oral and written.

It is a wonder on what basis she has made this unfounded allegation.

She also accused teachers of not upskilling themselves while the fact remains that teachers in both primary and secondary schools have upgraded their qualifications from diploma to degree and then postgraduate diploma and many have also completed their masters.

General unsupported scathing public attacks on teachers at a time when we wish to build up a conducive learning environment is void of any logic or rationale.

The Ministry's own records would show that a vast majority of teachers have upgraded their qualifications at their own expense as there is hardly any budgetary allocation for In-service training.

These teachers utilize their skills and knowledge to better the education system.

Hon. Kumar should upgrade their salaries to the correct band as per the J.E.E. 2017 which MEHA is in breach of.

Last month, we celebrated World Teachers Day with the theme, 1Teachers at the heart of Education recovery'.

Thus, the focus should remain on the support teachers need to fully contribute to the recovery process.

It is imperative that the stakeholders join hands to support teachers, who are at the core of the education system, so that the lost teaching hours do not affect the performance of our students who will be sitting for the external examinations.

The COVID-19 pandemic also highlighted the importance of systemic and ministerial support for teacher leadership in times of the crisis, which is critical in terms of the contributions teachers made to provide remote learning in order to support the vulnerable population to ensure that learning gaps were mitigated.

Thus, counselling strategies and support must be on hand for both teachers and students.

In Fiji's context, the Honourable Education Minister must take heed that the employees of the state, who are teachers, have suffered immensely in the manner that their terms and conditions of work have been watered down unilaterally.

Since the imposition of one sided individual contracts, they have been the worst victims of the draconian disciplinary procedures as they have been continuously threatened with fear of job losses.

Derogatory comments made by some senior officials of the Education Ministry including the Honourable Education Minister, excessive paperwork and workload and the denial of salary increments have affected the morale of teachers.

The denial of hard-earned increments, non­ payment of acting allowances as well as location allowance to the teachers is an act of gross cheating on the part of the Education Ministry and the State.

The morale in the teaching profession remains all time low so how does one expect teachers to provide quality education. Teachers are not magicians.

They are educators and they must be provided the necessary support required to achieve quality education.

It is quite apparent from her utterances that Honourable Kumar is totally ignorant of the reality on the ground and the challenges faced by teachers on a daily basis, as they work passionately to assist the students in their care.

If she had bothered to get some factual information on the large class sizes in urban schools she would have realized that there is need to appoint more teachers.

The confederation advises her to get her facts right and refrain from making derogatory comments in the media, as she only doing harm and defeating the very purpose of the responsibility she has been bestowed with.

As usual the Confederation as the legitimate representative of teachers remains ready to work in partnership with MEHA to focus on enhancing quality delivery of education.

However, we will not tolerate any attempt to publically belittle or threaten our members or to treat them unfairly.

Feedback: fonua.talei@fijisun.com.fj