We need discipline in Fiji!
That’s the urgent call from Fijian Teachers Association (FTA) general secretary Paula Manumanunitoga, following the circulation of a video online that shows a group of unemployed youths in Navosa dancing in a hall that was allegedly built using money earned from marijuana sales.
Mr Manumanunitoga attributed the increase in youth crime, drug activity, and general indiscipline to the lack of effective corrective measures in schools, reiterating his call for the reinstatement of corporal punishment.
“We want to raise our children to be good, obedient, and worthwhile citizens,” he said.
“But our children now are going into gangs.”
He said the FTA had received information about former prisoners and unemployed youth involved in drug-related activities in rural areas, particularly in Navosa.
“They told the adults and their parents, you have no business in this house and every day they go party there.
“The meth has come up there.”
He lamented that strong, capable youth who could be trained for jobs were instead caught in a cycle of crime and addiction.
He also criticised what he saw as a legal framework that prevented teachers and parents from enforcing discipline.
“This is the result of 16 years of this law being enforced.”
He was pointing to the 2013 Constitution, which banned corporal punishment in schools.
Mr Manumanunitoga acknowledged that advocating for corporal punishment may conflict with Fiji’s commitments under international conventions, including those governed by the United Nations.
However, he insisted that national priorities must come first.