On February 8 1983, The Fiji Times published a story of how parents ousted the headteacher of a school in Labasa.
It was reported that the Ministry of Education removed the headteacher of a Government school near Labasa after 400 children boycotted classes and sat outside with their parents demanding the teacher’s removal.
The deputy headteacher at St Augustine’s Primary School at Wailevu, Labasa, Daya Nand, would act as the headteacher until a replacement is named.
The headteacher, Ram Jattan, would report to the Education Department office in Labasa as complaints against him by the parents would be investigated.
The 60 parents who gathered outside the school gates at Wailevu just outside the town refused to allow their children to attend classes when the senior education officer northern Nete Logavatu arrived after the protest began at 8.30am.
Mr Logavatu, after speaking to Mr Jattan at his office, told the parents to allow the students to attend classes while he took Mr Jattan to his office, looked at their complaints and discussed the issue with his head office in Suva.
But the parents said they would refuse to let a single child attend classes until the department had given a firm decision that Mr Jattan would be removed.
The parents sent their children home at 10.30am and warned the Education Department that they would not return until Mr Jattan was removed.
The Education Department informed the parents before midday that Mr Jattan would be removed from the school.
According to reports received, Mr Jattan was originally transferred to Nabekavu Primary School, but that will depend upon the outcome of an investigation into the complaints filed by the parents.
The protest by the students and parents holding placards saying “HT must go” and “HT transferred – leave school” resulted from a meeting of the St Augustine’s Parents and Teachers’ Association at the school grounds on Sunday afternoon.
The meeting passed a motion that the students would boycott classes and sit outside with their parents until the headteacher was removed.
Ram Rattan, the president of the PTA, said for the first time in its 40-year history the school was in a mess.
The report claimed that a student had his ear partly torn off by twisting by Mr Jattan, and another was banned from school for a week because he was suspected of stealing 20 cents, although no proof was established.
Mr Rattan said Mr Jattan had been getting police protection for the past few days as there were fears angry parents might manhandle him.
For the first two weeks of the first term, there was no program set out for teachers and no one knew what was going on.
When contacted by The Fiji Times in his office in the empty school yesterday morning, Mr Jattan said there was nothing much he could say.
