UniFiji Council Meets On Saturday To Resolve Issues

The University of Fiji Council will meet on Saturday to try to resolve the remaining grievances of students.

The outstanding issues relate to a call for some executives to step aside and allow investigations into complaints on alleged breach of governance rules.

The University of Fiji Students Association president, Ratu Sailosi Dawai, said however they were happy that most of their grievances had been resolved or attended to.

The only issues left, he said, were non-negotiable because they seriously affected students.

He claimed that the Government grant to the university had been withheld because of alleged discrepancies in the financial accounts.

He said the students had been unfairly penalised when the university took austerity measures to cut costs.

The students have highlighted their grievances in a protest symbolised by the Black Ribbon Movement. This is the second week and they are hoping all the issues will be sorted out.

The Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Education, Allison Burchell, has written to the association to specify “what exactly are the issues outstanding so that we can have a look at them and the best way to resolve them?”

Ratu Sailosi said they would write to the ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office.

Questions sent to Anil Tikaram, the UniFiji chair, and Narendra Reddy, the acting Vice-Chancellor, had not been answered when this edition went to press.

Edited by Epineri Vula

Feedback: nemani.delaibatiki@fijisun. com.fj