Teachers have been challenged to “rise to the occasion” as the calling they have chosen is crucial to develop and steer the nation’s young people.
In an interview, Education Ministry permanent secretary Selina Kuruleca said they now talked and listened to the teachers more.
She also urged all teachers to visit the ministry should they have any difficulties or issues.
“If you have a problem come and tell us, but we’re also reminding teachers of your civil service code of conduct, your duty of care,” she said.
“We need to remind not only the teachers but our non-teaching staff, just talking to them. Sometimes, I don’t know if the public realises this, but sometimes kids are left in school till 5pm-6pm. It’s the teacher who stays; the teacher is duty bound to stay, but we don’t recognise it.
“We’re very fast to recognise when the teacher leaves earlier. But having said that, we’re also encouraging teachers, go the extra mile when you can, make sure you have consent of parents when you need to take children on excursions or have them play a sport, all of this is important.”
Speaking about teacher attitudes and laxity, Ms Kuruleca said such behaviour would not change overnight. However, the first step was to acknowledge that teachers work hard, and it was necessary to push for teachers to continually improve and upskill themselves.
“For those teachers who are not doing so well, I challenge you. This is your passion. You chose to come in to be a teacher. Rise to the occasion. Our children need us. Our Fiji needs us. We’re committed here at the ministry to do that and we encourage our teachers to partner with us.
“We’ve been fortunate that we have a lot of teacher training institutes, we also have a lot of scholarships available through the TSLS, we have TSLS in service scholarships also available. There’s not a shortage of opportunities to learn.
“Grab those opportunities because it’s for your own good. The cadre of children we’re dealing with now is quite different from maybe when you first got your degree and how you manage that.
“It’s critical that you have some idea of psychological interventions, social interventions, behavioural interventions. It’s not only about academic interventions anymore, but also about a whole gamut of interventions.”
