The Ministry of Education’s Performance and Discipline Unit has investigated a teacher following an incident in which a preacher allegedly singled out a Muslim student while addressing students at a Lautoka school.
Education Minister Aseri Radrodro confirmed the disciplinary process in Parliament while responding to a question from Government MP Hem Chand on measures being taken to prevent similar incidents.
Mr Chand described the treatment of the student as “insulting” and sought assurances that such incidents would not happen again.
Mr Radrodro said the matter was being dealt with internally and stressed the need to maintain confidentiality.
“The confidentiality of the teacher and information is something that we would like to request the honourable Member to understand,” he said.
However, he confirmed the Ministry’s Performance and Discipline Unit had taken action in relation to the teacher involved.
“The process of Performance & Discipline Unit has been undertaken on the teacher involved, because of some areas of oversight in terms of the proper approval and endorsement that needed to be undertaken,” Mr Radrodro said.
He said the unit had completed its exercise and made recommendations regarding the teacher.
Opposition MP Faiyaz Koya described the allegations as disturbing and attempted to raise concerns about whether the alleged remarks could potentially constitute an offence under the Public Order Act.
“Everyone will understand, this is actually quite a disturbing thing,” Mr Koya said.
However, Speaker Filimone Jitoko stopped Mr Koya from going further, ruling that the matter remained confidential while being dealt with through the school administration process.
“This matter is confidential. At the moment it is being handled through the process of the school administration,” the Speaker said.
He said school authorities could ultimately decide whether the matter should be referred to police.
“They might even decide the matter will be referred to the police,” he said.
The Speaker cited Standing Order 44(12), which prevents parliamentary questions from seeking information deemed confidential.
