An average of 50 teachers per month have either migrated or resigned from the teaching profession between January and July 31 this year.
Fiji Teachers Union general secretary Muniappa Goundar said the country was facing a teacher shortage problem as it continued to deal with the ongoing global crisis.
“The latest figure for this year is that approximately 49 to 50 teachers are migrating or resigning per month,” said Mr Goundar.
“So that comes to around 700 teachers have migrated, resigned, or chosen to take up another profession in some other sectors.”
He said another issue was the classification of teachers filling in roles of those who have left the profession.
“We have the secondary teachers in primary schools who are classified as unqualified because the ministry says they are secondary graduates.
“But then again, as a union, we say even if they are secondary graduates teaching in primary, they need to be paid the appropriate salary because they are filling in the gaps.
“They are helping the ministry fill in these gaps.
“We have about 600 of these graduates within the ministry who are teaching in primary, and we want the ministry to pay them the full salary.
“A graduate is a graduate. They should be paid for the work that they do.”
Mr Goundar was part of the three-day Pacific Regional Dialogue on Go Public! Fund Education in Nadi where regional teacher union leaders gathered to discuss challenges in the education sector, such as teacher shortages, working conditions, mental health, and climate-responsive education.
It also aims to support national efforts to translate global recommendations into concrete action plans.
