SCHOOL headteachers and principals should not be penalised for not adhering to the Ministry of Education’s zoning policy.
Instead, the Fiji Teachers Union believes that parents should be given the right to choose the schools for their children.
In responding to Education Minister Dr Mahendra Reddy’s comments that he would “fix” school heads who failed to adhere to the zoning policy, FTU secretary Agni Deo Singh said while the zoning policy had its advantages, the parents’ rights to enrol their children in their preferred schools should be respected.
“I don’t see any reason why heads should be disciplined for any reason at all because enrolment is between school management and parents,” he said.
“We must not deny that not all schools are the same and zoning could be made compulsory if all schools in the country are provided with the same level of facility and one would not be disadvantaged in terms of quality. Some schools have had the advantage of improving facility because they were in better catchment areas in terms of students coming from better families so the urban schools are well facilitated and there are those rural schools that even lack some basic facilities.”
Mr Singh believes parents should have the last decision over their children’s schools.
“Parents’ rights to choose the schools they want for their children should be respected because there are many reasons which includes religious beliefs and culture,” he said.
The other option to improve the zoning policy, Mr Singh said, was to allow parents to privately pay for their children’s fees.
“If parents want to pay privately because they are enrolling their children in schools beyond the zoning boundary but are of their choice, then they should be allowed and there won’t be many.
“While zoning is effective, parents must still be given the choices because they have cultural and religious ties to it. Some schools are built by faith-based organisations and they teach the religion and culture which children should not be deprived of and secondly, there are schools that are better than others.”
