THE people of Namosi want proper education for their children.
Members of the Namosi Provincial Council meeting raised their concerns after government promised Form Seven will begin soon in a school in the province.
Namosi District representative Aselemo Vakadranu said a particular secondary school had 24 teachers of whom eight were graduates with degrees while the rest had diplomas.
He asked whether these teachers were qualified to teach Form Seven because they wanted a proper education system in their school.
Mr Vakadranu said they preferred qualified teachers who could teach at Form Seven level.
When contacted last night, permanent secretary for Education Dr Brij Lal said only teachers with degrees were qualified to teach Form Seven.
However, Dr Lal said teachers with diplomas could teach students from forms One to Six.
"With the eight graduates in the school, that is more than enough," Dr Lal said.
He said the criterion was simple and all schools were aware of this.
Namosi provincial administrator Viliame Rakai said the people of Namosi needed to invest more in their children's education.
Meanwhile, from 2010 to date, the Namosi Joint Venture (NJV) has spent over $520,000 on its Education Assistance Program for students from Namosi and Waidina District in the province of Naitasiri wishing to pursue tertiary education.
This has helped 416 students receive tertiary education.
NJV country manager Greg Morris said they were not looking at replacing government services but rather be partners in helping national and provincial governments provide programs to the people of Namosi and Fiji.