School managers are seen only as “grass cutters”, demonised as “crooks” and left with no say in the very institutions they helped build.
School Management Association of Fiji president Govind Singh said this as he vented the collective frustration of members at the association’s biennial conference in Nausori yesterday.
He shared that managers were no longer empowered to make decisions or included in spaces where their voices could be heard.
He said the “stepmotherly” treatment meted out to school management committees was unprecedented, and such incidents had further alienated school managers from their communities.
Mr Singh said under the previous Government’s rule, the managements were demonised as people who were corrupt, and allegations were made that managements abused funding, so they could not be trusted. And he said despite the change in government, they continued to be ignored.
“Over the period of more than a decade, we haven’t built a single classroom on our own accord,” he said.
“We believe that our school heads must continue to professionalise themselves, which will in turn return dividends to our schools. When it comes to us attending conferences, we are thought that, ‘you should probably be cutting grass in the school’.
“But when it comes to developing the strategic plan, then you invite the manager to develop the strategic plan, but you haven’t empowered the manager.
“What do you expect in the strategic plan? Do we not need empowering? Do we not need development? Do we not need resources for that?”
He said in the past, the association helped ensure that school management committees operated effectively.
Mr Singh said they also provided support, the ability to negotiate resources, administrative development, development, and resolutions of conflicts in schools.
“We have assisted numerous schools, some of them, of course, with obsolete constitutions. When the reform came in, they were caught flat footed.
“We stood up for them and tried to ensure that their constitutions were aligned to the current day developments. We provided guidance. We have also provided advocacy for issues affecting school management, and particularly so if managements have requested for resources.
“So, when the current grant formula was being developed, School Management Association played a pivotal role.”
However, he said the bulldozing tactics of the previous government did not allow everything to happen the way school managements wanted.
“Some things need to be adjusted, and in the next two days, those are some of the things that we need to discuss; our key role and functions of advocacy and representation.”
