Education, unions iron out issues

‘School heads allowed to take holiday’

THE Fiji Teachers Confederation has been successful in the removal of a recent Ministry of Education directive that required heads of schools to be at school during holidays.

Confederation members from the Fiji Teachers Union and the Fijian Teachers Association met the Education Ministry permanent secretary, Alison Burchell, on Thursday to discuss the issue.

“We emphasised to the PS that this circular came too late when majority of the school heads had travelled to their villages or had gone overseas,” said spokesman Agni Deo Singh

He said it was agreed no head teacher or principal would lose their allowances for being away from school or be reprimanded.

“We agreed that these school heads had to inform the ministry on who was available to receive textbooks and attend to any other matters should the need arise.”

Mr Singh said the unions made it clear their members who are school heads had no obligation to be at their school on a daily basis during holidays.

“As per the General Orders, the teachers’ annual leave is the school holiday so they are entitled to that holiday,” said Mr Singh.

He said there was a circular from 2017 that addressed the issue of school heads keeping a tab on school affairs during holidays that did not require them to be at the school daily.

Questions emailed to Ms Burchell remained unanswered when this edition went to press.

As per the General Orders, the teachers’ annual leave is the school holiday so they are entitled to that holiday. – Agni Deo Singh