Water, teacher positions
Water woes
TWENTY-FOUR years into the 22nd century and Fiji still has water cuts. Surrounded by water, heavy rain for the past three days and still water cuts continue on a daily basis in the Capital City.
At least the electricity utility company had the good sense to amend their company name from FEA to EFL for they realised they were never an “authority” on electricity. Whereas Fiji's water utility entity, is other, than an authority on excuses for the daily water cuts.
The reggae hit song Rat race, sung by the great Bob Marley, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean with numerous rivers, rain on almost a daily basis and “in the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty!” Was he singing and foretelling Fiji's water problems from back in the day? Or will Fiji's water utility entity issue another authoritative excuse on why we Fijians will continue to have water cuts well into 2030 and beyond? A year on after elections, the Water(less) Authority of Fiji continues the ineptitude of Fiji's previous government.
And I know for a fact that Fiji leads the poll at No.1 for any country that; is surrounded by the biggest ocean in the world, has an abundance of water sources, has rain at least two or three days a week, year in and out and yet has no water for its citizens.
I mean for real, countries in the desert have more consistent and running water in their taps than Fiji has! Can the government seek aid from water specialists around the world or ask the Israeli government for help in this regard? And I hope, there will be running water when I reach home in the afternoon.
EPELI RABUA
Loloma St, Tamavua, Suva
Twist in regularisation
THE teacher regularisation process has been done to fast-track the mess created by the past regime and to provide some relief to the teachers who meet the Minimum Qualification Requirement (MQR) and are acting on the positions for some time. The union stands for the members, and the members rely on the union to fight for their rights and provide justice to them.
Members have been raising concerns on what the unions can do in regards to the acting appointments and also for none of the members to be demoted in the process, which has been the norm with the previous regime whereby many prominent heads of schools were demoted.
The ministry has now come up with a solution that allows teachers who were in acting positions to meet the MQR to be confirmed for their positions. This process would have minimal disruption to the teaching and learning process. Teacher movement would be avoided, as thousands were acting and causing the least disruption to their families.
In addition, at least teachers on acting appointments would have peace of mind knowing that their job is secured and the subsequent embarrassment of demotion would be avoided. Unions should have put up a fight for those who have missed out on promotion due to regularization, not for those who have been promoted.
While regularisation is not a perfect way of getting promotions, the current scenario has limited options and is preferably much better than the OMRS, which put teachers in positions that they were never capable of undertaking. The unions know all too well that without regularization, it would take donkeys years to get all positions confirmed, creating mayhem in terms of teacher movements, disruptions, demotions, and so forth.
The unions have never come up clean on the reasons why they have so vehemently opposed the regularization process. There is a twist to the tale, as PS Education has categorically stated in F.T. 11/03, “PS wants teacher unions to work on representing the majority of their membership and not a handful of elite members”. This revelation should send shockwaves to the members that the union is secretly trying to give due advantage to the so-called “elite members”, while all members pay an equal subscription and some are given special privileges.
I salute the PS for Education, Madam Kuruleca, for uplifting the profession with the best of her intentions and with the highest degree of honesty and integrity.
The unions owe an explanation to their members for the revelation by the PS for Education.
RAYNAV CHAND
Nakasi