Education Minister Aseri Radrodro (left), Ro Vereto Nayacalevu.

Ro Vereto Nayacalevu is the Minister for Education’s choice of Permanent Secretary over Selina Kuruleca.

This was confirmed to FBC News by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.

Nayacalevu is currently the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

“In fact, he had asked for someone (Nayacalevu) to be transferred. That person prefers to stay in the Ministry he is in.”

Rabuka has clarified the coalition parties had only agreed on Ministerial positions and they did not have a specific say in the appointment of the Permanent Secretaries.

Education Minister, Aseri Radrodro.

Yesterday, Minister for Education, Aseri Radrodro, told FBC News that the Teacher’s Unions were the ones that rejected the Public Service Commission’s decision to appoint Kuruleca as the PS.

Fiji Teachers Union’s Secretary General, Muniappa Gounder, says they wanted someone who came from the ranks of the Education sector.

“It would have been well-taken if somebody from within the Education system who have gone through the ranks. In simple terms someone who have gone through the mill to have been given that position? That particular person would know how the ministry runs.”

Meanwhile, Kuruleca is a former school teacher, a USP lecturer, and a mental health professional.

She also has experience in the civil service, banks, the non-government sector both locally and internationally, and with technical partners such as the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Kuruleca is a qualified psychotherapist and holds a Master of Arts degree in counselling and psychology.

Nayacalevu was a key figure in the corporate space, working with Paradise Beverages as a Manager Sales Operations Planning, Distribution and Logistics, Fosters Group Pacific Limited and the Solomon Islands Water Authority before joining the Civil Service in December 2020.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, Management and Operations and was also a former Queen Victoria School student.

Making him an alma mater to the Prime Minister and Radrodro himself.

According to Section 126(1) of the 2013 Constitution, the Public Service Commission appoints Permanent Secretaries with the agreement of the Prime Minister not the line minister.

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