EDUCATION Minister Rosy Akbar says the ministry intends to have discussions with the two local Hindu institutions who say they will oppose Government’s plan to teach conversational Fiji Hindi in all primary schools in the country.
In an interview with this newspaper, Ms Akbar said she has not learned about the institutions’ decisions.
“I am hearing this from you and I definitely like to hear it from them and we would go into discussion with them,” she said.
Ms Akbar has advised the two institutions to formally write to the ministry regarding the issue.
“I haven’t heard anything from them yet but they can formally write to us and then we can have a discussion on the matter.”
National secretary of the Sanatan Dharm Pratinidhi Sabha Fiji Pandit Vigyan Sharma earlier said all schools run by their organisation would not follow the directive and teach Fiji Hindi.
“They want to teach Fiji Hindi in schools now when most of the schools are run by our organisation,” he said.
Pandit Sharma said no Fiji Hindi would be taught in their schools. “If these people do not want to listen to us, we will not listen to them.”
He said members were opposed to the teaching of Fiji Hindi because it was a “broken” language.
“We only speak Fiji Hindi when we talanoa in our homes but during special functions and rituals we speak pure Hindi (shuddh) only.”
