The classroom set-up for Year One in Fiji is “very military style”, Education Minister Premila Kumar says.
She made the comments while speaking at the Ba Special School last week, where she pointed out that the learning environment for Year 1 classes had to be “re-looked”.
“Very military style desk and chair set-up and everybody sits in that way,” she said.
“For the children, it has to be more of a social and mental development, creativity so they need to be sitting in a circular way, in a particular way where they can interact with one another for the communication.”
She also said early childhood education teachers needed to upgrade their training annually.
“Just like the lawyers, engineers and everybody else, the teachers themselves need training on a yearly basis.
“These provisions we have already spoken to with teacher training institutions that they need to provide more of those courses.
“Normal teaching is different from the teaching you need to provide to special children and it’s a different ball game all together.”
