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Qereqeretabua misses the point says Education Minister

June 5, 2020 6:37 am

The Minister for Education Rosy Akbar agrees with Lenora Qereqeretabua that the debate should not be about the price of the Walesi set-top box.

Akbar also hopes the NFP Member of Parliament has learned from her mistake and does better research before bringing such topics up in Parliament again.

The Education Minister says Qereqeretabua brought the topic up in Parliament, claiming that set-top boxes were too expensive, along with other incorrect information, forcing the Ministry to correct her poorly researched statements in the poorly researched Fiji Times article.

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Akbar says Qereqeretabua appears to have retracted this in her statement to CFL, but still does not quite understand the simple explanation about accessibility so she wants to simplify it for her.

The Education Minister says there are some basic simplified points: To begin with, the definition of supplementary content- is simply additional content designed to engage students during the COVID-19 pandemic and is non-examinable (students will not be tested).

The supplementary content shown on Walesi is completely derived from the curriculum.

This curriculum is also provided on all school resources, thus any student or parent without Walesi access can easily access it.

Akbar reiterated that the content on Walesi, like the worksheets and radio program, is supplementary.

The Education Minister adds that lessons on Walesi are not official classes and students will not be tested on what is aired.

She says once school resumes, they want to assure parents and guardians that their children will be taught all of this supplementary content.

The content Akbar says will also be available on several online platforms.

The Education Minister goes on to say that Walesi is merely one of the dissemination points for the supplementary content.

Not only is the content easily accessible through a plethora of mediums by all Fijians, but the students will learn it all over again if they have missed out.

Again, Akbar says the honourable NFP member has completely missed the point that this is supplementary content based on the curriculum to keep students engaged and get parents involved.

Meanwhile, the Minister apologizes to parents who may be worried about their children missing out on their curriculum after reading misinformation in the Fiji Times.

She adds, the Ministry of Education wants to reiterate that they have made every effort to keep children engaged not just academically but in terms of values.

The Education Minister concluding that Fijians need to ignore the politics and tune in with your children and play an active role in their education during these uncertain times.