Management suspended pending ministry probe
The Ministry of Education has suspended the management of the Andrews Primary School in Nadi during its Annual General Meeting on Sunday, pending fraud investigations. This decision was made by the director Primary Education, Hem Chand, after it was noted that the constitution of the school was allegedly amended. Mr Chand who demanded answers from the school president, Mohammed Sattar, as to how this clause was written or added in the constitution did not receive any plausible explanation which led to the suspension. Mr Chand said the matter was serious because the copy of the constitution at the ministry’s office, did not have Clause 13 E there.
“We cannot play with the constitution, it also guides us, I have no choice but to suspend the committee,” Mr Chand said.
The issue came to light after a few concerned parents had raised their voices in relation to the matter. They condemned the act, saying that the amendment be removed and called for the elected committee to be dissolved.
A concerned father, Mohammed Naseer Khan, brought the matter before the ministry that page six of the school constitution was an alleged forgery and it was something that was not present in the original script. The added Clause 13 E in the constitution read: Any member who has served for continuous five years as committee shall qualify for post of office bearer; president, manager, secretary and treasurer.
Mr Khan alleged the constitution had been forged for the benefit of the president and committee members. However, the clause was brought to light by some of the parents before the ministry following the last elections in the last AGM. There, it was clarified that the clause added was not a part of the original school constitution. Mr Sattar scheduled for a special AGM on Sunday whereby he moved a motion to delete the Clause 13 E from the Constitution.
And during this AGM, Mr Chand asked if the clause was deleted. In response, Mr Sattar said: “We have no knowledge of who amended the Constitution.”