Unpaid teachers
THE revelation that newly appointed teachers have gone for up to four months without receiving their salaries should not be treated as another unfortunate administrative hiccup.
It warrants an investigation by the Minister for Education and the Permanent Secretary, with accountability extending into the Ministry of Finance.
This is not 1986.
Money does not have to be put into an envelope, loaded onto a boat and transported to an outer island. Government salaries are electronic transactions.
Once a teacher has been formally appointed, assigned a school, commenced duty and has salary, grade and employment conditions established, what exactly prevents that teacher from being entered into the payroll and paid?
And if the payroll system cannot process the payment immediately, why cannot an interim manual payment be authorised until the automated system catches up?
The explanation that there are “internal processing and compliance requirements” is simply not good enough when a teacher has already been sent to work for the Government.
What makes this particularly disturbing is that this appears not to be an isolated event. Every school year, teachers are appointed and posted to schools, including remote and outer-island communities.
The Government knows this cycle is coming.
The appointments are not surprises. The schools are known. The positions are known.
The salary grades and conditions are known. The paperwork should be known. So why are teachers repeatedly arriving at their schools only to discover that their salaries may take months to arrive? This is no longer merely a payroll problem.
It points to a culture of administrative neglect in which everyone has become accustomed to the system failing and then explaining the failure after the damage has been done.
And who pays for that failure? Not the ministry. The teacher pays.
The teacher’s family pays.
And now we learn that village shopkeepers are effectively financing the Government by allowing teachers to buy necessities on credit, with some reportedly accumulating almost $1,000 in debt.
That is an extraordinary transfer of responsibility from the State to some of Fiji’s smallest businesses.
The minister has promised that arrears for 318 Ministry of Education staff will be expedited through Pay 17 and Pay 18.
Good. But clearing the backlog does not answer the more important question: who allowed it to happen?
The minister should order a full investigation, identify where responsibility lies between education and finance, and require the permanent secretaries and responsible officials to account publicly for the failure.
If the investigation establishes serious negligence, heads should roll.
Government cannot demand that teachers report for duty on time while allowing its own payroll system to fail them for months.
A teacher who has fulfilled the Government’s obligation to educate our children deserves to have the Government fulfil its obligation to pay the teacher. This is not an inconvenience.
It is a failure of the government. And someone must be held accountable.
DR SUSHIL K SHARMA Lautoka
Jumping the AI queue
A LOCAL young man wanted to book a spot in a pilates class but it was full so he asked AI to do something and it got him a spot by dropping someone else off the list.
A bit of luck, or AI hacking a system, or just a test run for our future masters?
It sounds silly but so did planes, cars and probably trains at some stage.
The technology could go wrong, the basis of many movies, it could affect the share prices, for the few that can afford batches of shares, or it could help me.
I could use it to get me better seats at a show, to adjust the traffic light sequences so I always get green, or a real achievement would be to get my numbers to be the lottery numbers but only once every month so it doesn’t look suspicious.
AI isn’t the real problem, it’s AI on the loose being used by a maniac with ‘a few screws loose up top’, in the same way that a gun isn’t dangerous, it’s the person holding the gun.
Make sure the ‘off’ switch is big and easy to access.
DENNIS FITZGERALD Victoria, Australia
Time will tell
I REFER to the headline: Coalition has ‘done a lot ‘ — Kamikamica ( FT 15/8 ).
It certainly has for the gang in government and parliament with the 138 per cent pay rise and extra perks.
And it has certainly done a lot for the local and foreign elites.
Has the Rabuka Coalition Government done a lot for the ordinary people of Fiji?
The coming election will provide an answer to that.
RAJEND NAIDU Sydney, Australia
Empowering Fiji’s youth
ON August 12 (International Youth Day), we celebrated the young people of Fiji — their dreams, resilience, ideas and contributions to our communities and our nation.
From villages and settlements to schools, workplaces and communities, young Fijians continue to show that they are not merely the leaders of tomorrow; they are already making a difference today.
We must create more opportunities for our young people to participate, lead and innovate, and ensure their voices are heard in decisions that shape our future.
Our youth are not a problem to be managed, but a generation to be empowered.
To every young person working hard, serving your community, pursuing your dreams or simply trying to find your way: keep going.
Your contribution matters.
Vinaka vakalevu to all our young people for the work you do in your communities and for the future of our beloved Fiji.
AVENAI SERUTABUA Nabukelevu, Serua
Liberation of Fiji Party
THE approval of the “Liberation of Fiji Party” raises a troubling precedent.
A party name is meant to be an identifier, not a political slogan or statement.
By allowing such a name, the Registrar has blurred the line between lawful registration and rhetorical campaigning.
Names that are essentially statements undermine the neutrality of the electoral process and risk confusing voters.
The law requires compliance with rules and regulations, and this approval appears to sidestep that principle.
If registration standards are not applied consistently, then the credibility of the system itself is weakened.
Relevant government officials3 that party names remain names — not declarations, slogans, or propaganda.
Otherwise, the integrity of our democracy is compromised before the first vote is even cast.
Dr SUSHIL K SHARMA Lautoka
Halle Berry’s Fiji visit
NISHANT Singh’s questioning mind wonders which side of Fiji the famous actress Halle Berry saw during her recent visit to be so impressed (FT, 15/8/26).
Did she see only the tourist side? Or did she also see the squalor, the plight of people living in poverty and those who remain internally displaced?
Would she have seen A Documentary about the Girmit Farmers in Fiji on YouTube? Nishant doubts it. I agree.
I am reminded of a quote by Chilean poet and writer Roberto Bolaño: “People see what they want to see, and what people want to see never has anything to do with truth.”
We are reminded, too, that during the apartheid era in South Africa, tourists were taken on “guided tours” and would come away believing that everything was fine.
Perhaps what we see depends very much on what we are shown.
RAJEND NAIDU Sydney, Australia
Putting the vanua first
AS I congratulate the newly installed Tui Vuda, Ratu Josaia Tuivou Tavaiqia, I commend him for his vision and timely message to the people of Vuda: prioritise education, because it is a key to progress and development.
Putting politics aside, Ratu Tavaiqia has chosen to focus on education — a foundation of a successful society and country. I also commend him for offering a piece of land for the construction of a new school.
His call for the vanua to leave obstacles behind, embrace opportunities and put God first is timely.
Fiji’s chiefs have an important role to play in their vanua. They must continue to speak up on issues affecting our nation, including drugs and substance abuse, teenage pregnancies, school dropouts, HIV/AIDS and the deteriorating behaviour of some of our young people. Domestic violence and drinking alcohol in public places also require attention.
To the Tui Vuda, Ratu Tavaiqia, thank you for putting your people first. The vanua o Vuda is blessed to have a chief of your calibre.
RAJNESH ISHWAR LINGAM Nadawa, Nasinu
Crocodiles in the system
I REFER to The Fiji Times headline, “Report null and void”: High Court Quashes COI Findings (FT, 15/8/26).
As a layman, I do not understand the legal intricacies or the yardstick applied by the High Court in reaching its ruling.
But from the perspective of the public, a more basic question remains: did the Commission of Inquiry do what it was established to do — expose the “crocodiles” within Fiji’s governance system?
That, I believe, is a question worth asking.
RAJEND NAIDU Sydney, Australia
