Education Minister, Rosy Akbar

The Education Minister and faith based leaders have agreed that appointments of civil servants, including heads of schools, will continue to be made by the Ministry based on merit.

The two parties met yesterday to candidly discuss the issue of appointments of heads of school.

During the talanoa-styled meeting the parties confirmed common ground in numerous ways to improve the appointment process.

Education Minister, Rosy Akbar says they agreed that the methods are both aligned to the open merit and recruitment selection guidelines, while also being mindful of the values-based mission that drives Fiji’s many FBOs and the institutions they represent.

The Minister recognized the important role that faith based organization play in education and emphasized that the Government is guided by academic education within which the culture and ethos of schools are promoted.

Akbar says following previous meetings, it was re-affirmed that meaningful consultations will be held with FBOs in regards to hiring and the Ministry will strive to ensure that a candidate’s ability to uphold and foster the ethos of the school is considered before an appointment is made.

As previously proposed, the Ministry will also revise its job descriptions to reflect this desire to attract candidates with shared ethos to each school along with the ability to support the ethos and traditions of a school, whether it be faith – or community-based.

Akabr says the Ministry committed to developing a formal policy to address these agreements in the longer term.

The Ministry and FBO leaders are looking forward to building upon the progress of yesterday’s meeting in the weeks ahead.