A-G:Fiji Needs More Critical Thinkers, Research Important

The culture of research and critical analysis need to be developed further in Fiji says Attorney-General and Minister for Education Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

He was speaking at the Pacific Peoples’ Research Skills Symposium at the Holiday Inn.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum lamented that in Fiji, critical analysis had been limited to socioeconomic imperatives.

He also addressed the need to have an open mind when research is undertaken. He added that many academics in the country hold onto a particular mindset and force their research findings to fit into that mindset.

“We come from a post-colonial society and we have a colonial system that actually divided us along ethnic line, our schools were divided along ethnic lines and even sports were divided along ethnic lines. “Whatever the case is we need to break down those walls.

“Research requires you to firstly break down the walls within yourself, breakdown the walls you set up within yourself because if you are able to break down the compartmentalization then you can truly say that you are quite liberal and open to new things, to new ideas and what existed and what exists now.”

University of the South Pacific Vice Chancellor (Research, Innovation & International), Professor Derrick Armstrong said USP staff would present how they have contextualized the Research Skull Development (RSD) Framework.

“The two-day Pacific Peoples’ Research Skills Symposium is aimed at providing an update on the project and its subsequent benefits to the region,” Professor Armstrong said.

“We have every faculty and group from the university represented, and the range from Foundations study all the way through every year of undergraduate study.

“The leadership of The University of the South Pacific has made a significant and ongoing commitment to embed the development of research skills for all students across the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes of study.”

The symposium ends today.

Edited by Jyoti Pratiba