Khemendra Sanatan Primary School.

The alleged misappropriation of Free Education Grant by the Head Teacher of Khemendra Sanatan Primary School in Savusavu is currently under investigation.

This was confirmed to FBC News by the Ministry of Education.

This follows concerns by parents regarding the on-going issue between their head teacher, the school board, and the school trustee.

The Parents Teachers Association says the board and trustees do not wish to receive Jagdish Prasad as their head teacher, claiming Prasad has put the school under the “red code.”

The “red code” indicates that a school is performing poorly.

According to Acting Education Permanent Secretary Timoci Bure, the Head Teacher is now reporting to the District Education Office in Savusavu awaiting the result of the investigation.

PTA Secretary Monika Simmons claims the school’s academic standard has also dropped.

Khemendra Sanatan Primary School in previous years was known for its academic excellence.

“We did not see any progress with Master Jagdish; we spoke to him personally and we have complained about so many things but there was nothing done.”

Simmons claims that Prasad left the school midway through last year, and a significant improvement was seen with the acting head teacher’s guidance.

Parent Deborah Singh says they are concerned about their children and have lodged multiple complaints.

“Our school was once a star school, but as of this day we are under red code which means we are underachieving, and we are very concerned about this.”

The Acting PS says for now the Acting Assistant Head Teacher is taking charge but the Ministry will appoint a new Head Teacher soon.

It is also alleged that the school manager is party to the misappropriation and so the Ministry will need to dissolve the management committee.

The Free Education Grant is now centralized at the Head Office in Suva.

According to the Ministry, a new school committee will be appointed and will undergo training on financial management before the FEG is decentralized.