The Vicar General of the Catholic Church of Fiji said Catholics should know that all the teachers in Catholic schools cannot be Catholics.
While responding to the people who have been writing letters of protest in relation to certain appointments in Catholic schools, Father Beni Kaloudau said people should understand that the people taking up the positions need to meet the criteria as the government is paying for the teachers.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church is hoping that good sense will prevail and the government will allow Catholics to be the heads of Catholic schools where possible.
Father Kaloudau confirms that following the rejection of the Catholic Education Board’s submission to the Public Service Commission for Catholics to be head teachers and principals of their schools, they are now lobbying for submissions to be made to the Constitution Commission.
Father Kaloudau said this is to safeguard the Catholic character of Catholic schools.
When questioned by Fijivillage on merit based appointments, Father Kaloudau said they respect that system.
He said all the Catholic Education Office wants is to bring back the previous agreement between the government and the church where consultations are to be held before the appointment of the school heads.
Director of Catholic Education, Remesio Rogovakalali said in July 2008, PSC made a decision that the Education Ministry should not be swayed by the decision of the school management boards and neither should it entertain any resistance from the school when appointing heads of schools.
He said following the decision, the Education Ministry no longer honored the long standing consultation process and appointed head teachers and principals to schools irrespective of whether or not they belonged to the faith of the community that established and manage the school.
PSC has stressed the need to ensure that the most meritorious person for the post be appointed.
We have sent questions to PSC Permanent Secretary, Parmesh Chand who is currently out of the country.
Story by: Vijay Narayan
