Education

Ministry terminates teachers

March 11, 2022 6:30 am

Minister for Education, Premila Kumar [left] and FTA General Secretary Paula Manumanunitoga

Four teachers have been dismissed, over allegations of sexual abuse and for allegedly inflicting corporal punishment.

Minister for Education, Premila Kumar confirms two teachers were terminated for alleged sexual offences and two for inflicting corporal punishment.

Kumar has spoken up following claims by the Fijian Teachers Association that the Ministry terminated seven educators without due diligence.

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FTA General Secretary Paula Manumanunitoga says their sacking was unwarranted.

“Terminating these teachers for very minor offences – where is the counselling mechanism? We are not all perfect, no one is perfect. In any workplace you’d be given a warning but teachers are never given a warning because of zero tolerance”.

However, Minister Premila Kumar has shot back at the FTA saying these decisions are not taken lightly.

“So in other words we do our investigation, we put a report together and we take a second opinion from SG’s office before we sign off that letter.”

Kumar also clarified the reasons behind these four terminations.

“They are saying seven teachers dismissed because of corporal punishment, I don’t know where they get their figures from. There were four teachers whose contracts were terminated and we did that on the advice of the Solicitor General”.

The Minister adds teachers are well aware of their policies of zero-tolerance on corporal punishment and sexual abuse in schools.