Transfer of teachers

FTU says it does not agree with minister’s comments

THE Fiji Teachers Union (FTU) says it does not agree with comments made by Education Minister Aseri Radrodro that teachers should be transferred after six years spent in one school.

FTU president Muniappa Goundar said transferring teachers, unless as a matter of discipline or competence, was “questionable” and transferring them after six years at one school was unacceptable to the union.

He said Mr Radrodro had to justify the remarks he made in his maiden speech in Parliament in terms of teachers being transferred if serving in a school for six years.

“The transfer policy had been there for decades. Transferring teachers is nothing new but demands careful consideration on the reasons of transfer,” said Mr Goundar.

“For a teacher to be transferred just because he/she had been at a school for more than six years is unacceptable by the union.

“The underlying reasons for teachers to spend more than six years at a school could be because of their residence being close by, they are well adapted to the school and its surrounding, they are producing exceptional results and stakeholders’ confidence in the teachers to name a few.”

“There are many families still separated, transfer on medical grounds still denied in many instances, swap without any cost to the ministry being denied in some cases and the like.

“The Fiji Teachers Union strongly believes that the ministry must meet with teacher unions and other stakeholders before any such policy is implemented.”

The FTU said the transfer guideline that was unilaterally imposed by the previous administration must be thoroughly discussed with teacher unions and necessary changes made before approval and implementation.

“The teachers have suffered a lot in the last 16 years and let us get together to uplift teacher morale. There is no other way.”