FNU to open campuses next year

FIJI National University (FNU) has agreed to reopen its school campuses in March next year, says Education Minister Premila Kumar.

She said this was done in order to ensure that Year 12 and 13 students were accommodated.

Mrs Kumar said external examinations for the two grades would be conducted in January next year.

“Exams will be held, there will be ample time for the marking and we are talking with the universities if they can delay the opening of universities in Fiji,” she said.

“We’ve had a discussion with FNU and they have agreed. They will open the university in March and I think the same will go for other universities as well if they want students to be enrolled.

“We all understand that because of COVID, we are all facing this difficulty. If there was no problem, then everything would have started on time.”

Mrs Kumar said the ministry would need to work on the implementation of the COVID-19 protocols that had been given to them by the Health Ministry.

“The first thing we need to take into consideration on how we prepare the classrooms, the reopening of schools, depends on a number of factors.

“It’s not like this. Here’s a date. Let’s get started. No, there are a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration.

“The first thing that we need to take into consideration is how we prepare the classrooms. You all know, we know that some of the classrooms are overcrowded.

“For any child to enter school, they need to be fully masked, social distancing is got to be observed and overcrowded classrooms, that can be difficult and so are taking cues from the Ministry of Health and they have cleared the protocol that will be rolled out to the schools.”