Eastern Zone Secondary Schools Rugby Union

𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋: 𝐇𝐎𝐍. 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐔𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒, 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊 𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐒

As our students return to school for the new term, I wish to welcome all students, teachers, parents, guardians, school committees and school authorities and wish everyone a productive and successful term ahead.

This is an important period in our education calendar, particularly for students preparing for the national examinations in Years 8, Year 12 and Year 13.

I encourage our students to remain focused on their studies, make the most of the support available to them and approach their examinations with confidence and determination.

I also wish to acknowledge and thank our teachers for their continued commitment to our students and schools. Teaching is demanding work, and our teachers continue to serve our children despite the many challenges they face. I sincerely appreciate the dedication and effort they continue to put into the education of our children.

I extend my appreciation to parents and guardians, school committees and school authorities for the support they provide to our schools. The success of our students requires all of us to work together and support our children both at school and at home.

I also want to address the recent salary cessation affecting some Ministry employees. I acknowledge the concern and disruption this has caused and apologise to those affected.

I am pleased to confirm that the 114 staff members affected have received their Pay 18 yesterday. I also wish to acknowledge and thank the Ministry of Finance for facilitating the request and assisting in ensuring that the affected staff received their salaries.

I have directed the Permanent Secretary for Education to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the salary cessation, including any potential insubordination, breach of the Accountable Authority Instructions and underperformance, and to initiate appropriate disciplinary action where warranted. Should the investigation establish a serious breach of the Fiji Financial Management Act or Education Act, the applicable penalties must be activated.

I have further directed that the Ministry strengthen its internal processes to ensure that matters affecting our staff are handled properly, promptly and with the necessary coordination between relevant officers and units. Our staff deserve a system that works efficiently, and the Ministry must ensure that its processes meet that standard.

As we begin this new term, our attention must remain firmly on our core responsibility, ensuring that our children receive the quality education and support they deserve.

We remain focused on our education targets, including our target of achieving a 97 percent pass rate. Achieving this will require commitment from our students, teachers, parents, school leaders and the Ministry.

During the term, officials from the Ministry will be visiting divisions, districts and schools to engage directly with education stakeholders and monitor the implementation of our programmes and priorities. These visits will also provide an opportunity to listen to the concerns of our schools, identify areas requiring attention and ensure that we are working towards the same objectives.

Our shared responsibility is to improve learning outcomes and give every child the opportunity to succeed.

To our students, I encourage you to take your studies seriously, respect your teachers and make full use of the opportunities available to you. To our teachers and school leaders, thank you for the work you continue to do for our children. To our parents and guardians, thank you for your continued support of our schools.

The new term provides an opportunity to renew our focus, strengthen collaboration and work together to improve the results of our students.

I wish all our students, teachers, parents and school communities a safe, successful and productive term.

Honourable Aseri Masivou Radrodro
Minister for Education

Our Eastern Zone Secondary Schools Rugby Union teams are on their way home.

Appreciation goes out to all players and team management for hearing the last minute call-up to represent the zone.

We also wish to show our sincere gratitude to parents, guardians, supporters, Nailaga and Sikituru villagers for the overwhelming support rendered to team East.

The zone executives will stay behind in Nadi for another day to complete all season's logistics, before heading home. Wishing everyone safe travel and a wonderful holiday.

May God bless us all.