Minister for Education Aseri Radrodro has moved to clarify public debate surrounding the Ministry of Education’s finances, stating that the actual over-expenditure for the 2025 financial year was $18.7 million, not the $23.8 million figure that has circulated publicly.
Mr Radrodro said the higher amount referred to a forecasted funding request submitted to enable the Ministry of Education to complete the 2025 financial year after accounting for several unbudgeted but unavoidable expenses.
“The actual over-expenditure was $18.7 million,” Mr Radrodro said.
“Had redeployment of funds within the Ministry not occurred, the over-expenditure would have been $4.4 million.”
He said the Ministry of Education remains Fiji’s largest employer, with approximately 13,800 teaching and non-teaching staff spread across all four divisions, including teachers stationed in remote highland communities and outer islands in the maritime division.
Mr Radrodro stressed that the expenditure variance was driven by essential operational costs, not mismanagement. Among the key contributors was $2.3 million paid in salary upgrades for 296 officers who attained higher qualifications, in line with established ministerial policy.
A further $3.6 million was spent on acting allowances for teachers and non-teaching staff who temporarily filled positions due to medical, maternity and study leave, as required under Public Service Commission regulations.
He also pointed to $0.5 million spent on the recruitment of 13 school chaplains, following Cabinet approval in 2023, although funding had not been allocated in the original budget.
Significant costs also arose from the implementation of PSC Regularisation Circular 2/2024, which required staff in acting roles to be regularised once conditions were met.
This included $7.0 million in salary step-up adjustments for 4,731 staff, costs that had been funded in the previous financial year but removed from the 2024–2025 budget.
Additional unbudgeted costs included $0.2 million in overtime payments for non-teaching staff and $1.1 million linked to the reinstatement of senior positions that had previously been phased out under a flatter organisational structure.
Mr Radrodro said the Ministry is now working to incorporate these costs into future budget proposals and will seek Cabinet consideration for amendments to its approved structure.
“There has been a lot of miscommunication and misleading statements in the public domain,” he said.
“The politicisation of this issue undermines good governance and only demoralises hardworking teachers and staff who keep our education system running.”
