The Education Ministry is developing a policy that will digitize most of its services to ensure broader coverage.

Speaking at the opening of the Consultative Workshop for the development of a National Distance Learning Policy Framework in Suva this morning, Permanent Secretary Selina Kuruleca says this includes counseling services to improve child protection and e-learning to ensure students do not miss out on classes when schools close due to unforeseen circumstances.

Kuruleca says the proposed framework will be convenient to teachers, students, and parents in many ways.

“This open development distance framework will allow them to say, Look, you have to do the child protection, but instead of doing it all face-to-face with a social protection officer at your school on Monday, the 23rd, you can still do it, but you can do it online and you have x amount of time, so it actually acts as a facilitator, so to speak.”

Kurucela says e-learning was promoted during the pandemic; however, a policy framework is needed to strengthen it.

“We all know how our learning has been disrupted by COVID, and then every year there is a disaster, there is a water shortage, and there is a tropical cyclone. This has disrupted our learning. The main focus area of this consultation is to see how we develop a policy framework.”

Fiji Teachers Registration Authority Chief Executive, Sangeeta Singh, says this policy will modernize Fiji’s education system.

The FTRA, after today’s consultative workshop, aims to develop the first draft of the Open Development Distance Framework, which will be sent to the Commonwealth of Learning for vetting.

The FTRA plans to have the policy ready by July.