A SUBMISSION was made this week to not criticise schools that were not performing academically.
Drasa Primary School teacher Keshni Prasad told the Public Consultation on the Review of the Education Act 1966 that there was a need to relook at the locality of these schools.
“We should not streamline schools, that this school got this much percentage pass and this school got this much percentage pass,” she said.
“We should look at the localities of where the children are coming from.
“Now when the schools are not performing, we call them hope schools.
“We should not call them hope schools, schools are schools
“This is my personal view, that the word hope schools should not be there.
“If the schools are not performing, we should look at the locality, what did the child eat in the morning, how many children are in that family, what happened to the child when he or she went to bed the previous night.
“What’s happening to the family, who is working in the family, is it a single parent family, a divorced or an extended family.
“There are so many that are staying together.”
Ms Prasad said students might be facing literacy issues at home.
“Schools might be having a 50 per cent pass but the type of children might be lacking literacy skills.
“Because at home they are talking in their own languages — Hindi and iTaukei.
“That might be the problem a child is facing at home.
“I’m suggesting all the children need to attend ECE schools before going to Year 1. Because it is very important and all schools should be provided with a chalk and blackboard, and they should first start writing on the board before they go to the actual writing or the formal learning.
“And once they go to Year 1, it should be mandatory that first five or six weeks they should be writing on their own and reading on their own before they go to the formal reading and writing.
“It’s a must because if we want to make a smarter Fiji, we must start from the root.”
