School managers, who volunteer their time and resources to keep Fiji’s schools running, deserve greater recognition and financial support, says School Management Association of Fiji president Govind Singh.
Speaking at the opening of the association’s three-day 11th National conference in Suva on Monday, Mr Singh said many school managers had no office and received no compensation despite being on call to assist schools.
“If you do a survey, you will find hardly any office for the manager,” he said.
“You can imagine the manager is a farmer. He goes into the interior to tend to his plantation, and then all of a sudden, a call comes from the principal’s office requesting them for their assistance in the school.
“The poor guy leaves his stock and everything there, and runs to the school.”
Mr Singh said managers often made personal sacrifices without any financial assistance.
“He gets no compensation, but for how long? The managers are used like a pari, taxi or something like that.”
He called on the Government to reinstate honorariums for school managers, saying these were removed under the 2014 education grant formula.
“Before 2014, managers used to get honorarium… not a single cent of grant money should be used by the management.”
Mr Singh questioned why school grants could fund principals and head teachers to attend conferences while managers could not receive travel assistance for their own conference.
“What a shame! It appears as if we have lost our culture about how we treat people who have done so much in this country.”
