Education Minister Aseri Radrodro says because of a shortage of primary school teachers, 335 secondary schoolteachers are teaching in primary schools.

While delivering his response to President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere’s Parliament opening address on Wednesday, the minister said “this should not be happening as primary education is a specialised field in itself”.

“Government policies must be practical,” he said.

“Whilst the shortage of primary schoolteachers was being experienced nationwide, primary schoolteachers were being retired at 55 years, when in fact, they should have been retained.”

Mr Radrodro said another concern was the lack of specialists in the field of special and inclusive education.

“All children have the right to an adequate education within an enabling learning environment and to fully participate in all school and community activities, and for this reason, the ministry recognises the need to provide teachers with the specialised skillset to address the shortfall.”

He said consultations would be held with teacher training institutions, relevant non-governmental organisations and donor partners “to device strategies to better support and strengthen pre-services and in-service teacher education to meet the needs in these areas”.