Fiji’s teacher unions unhappy with ministry’s displacement of school heads

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Archbishop Peter Loy Choy , and PS Education Alison Burchell during the meeting on Thursday evening, January 17, 2019, at Sacred Heart Cathedral . Picture: JONA KONATACI

THE Fiji Teachers Union (FTU) and the Fijian Teachers Association (FTA) say they are not happy with the way the Education Ministry continues to displace heads of schools.

According to the two teacher unions, the result of promoting teachers into leadership positions based on the open merit recruitment and selection (OMRS) system was “horrifying”.

FTU general secretary Agni Deo Singh claimed the job evaluation exercise (JEE), which was implemented in 2017, determined the value of the various levels of jobs which civil servants were carrying out.

He said when the result of the JEE was determined, it revealed that about 2000 teaching positions out of about 11,000 attracted an upward adjustment of more than 15 per cent in salary.

Mr Singh claimed that once the Ministry of Civil Service realised that the 2000 teaching posts were attracting more than 15 per cent salary adjustments, the ministry decided that the posts be re-advertised, though a large number of teachers in those positions had been duly promoted and had been confirmed on the job for a number of years yet no questions were raised on their performance or qualifications.

He claimed that the result of this exercise showed that majority of the teachers who had been performing well and had proven record of performance were unsuccessful in taking up vacant posts.

Mr Singh claimed the only determining factor for teacher promotions was now a three-hour job test.

FTA general secretary Paula Manumanunitoga said the morale of teachers had been affected because of the JEE and claimed teachers had been unhappy especially those in leadership positions.

Mr Manumanunitoga said the repercussion of the JEE would be felt continuously in the education sector.

The two teacher unions stated that they had nothing against those who had been appointed into the vacant positions because they were all victims of the job evaluation exercise.

During a meeting with Catholic schools stakeholders on Thursday night, Education Ministry permanent secretary Alison Burchell reiterated that the appointment of all school heads would be based on merit alone.

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