There is a need to put more emphasis on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) courses in Fiji.
Monash University academic and Asia-Pacific Applied Economic Association (APAEA) president Professor Paresh Narayan said this while speaking at the recent Tertiary Scholarships and Loan Services (TSLS) stakeholder awareness workshop.
“When it comes to TVET courses I did mention to the Education Minister Premila Kumar that we need to change the curriculum,” he said.
He said there was a need for experienced people to go to schools and talk to children about TVET courses.
“It cannot be your same teachers coming in talking about something that they have no expertise on.
“We need people from the industry to go and talk to the students. It may not be every week but as long as it’s intense it is a strategy that is going to have an impact. “I think this needs to be looked at because we can we can give all the awards and scholarships, but it’s not going to change anything.”
He added the TVET programs needed to be developed at grassroots level and the ministry needed to look into the shortage of experienced teachers.
“If we don’t have the programs developed at the grassroots level and we don’t have those relevant teachers then that sentiment actually spills over to other aspects of teaching as well in our school system.
“It’s not about blaming the teachers or the ministries but when you reach a stage like this, it’s really about finding the solutions.
“It comes down to the leadership of the ministry because we have stakeholders, and as experts, we know what the problem is and we are telling them this is the solution.
“So I’m hoping that we can fix this issue because otherwise, all these national level awards, they’re not going to make the kind of impact that we all want to see.”
