Akbar urges MPs not to get involved in the RKS saga

Education Minister Rosy Akbar has urged the members of parliament not to get involved in the RKS issue and let the Ministry sort things out.

Akbar highlighted this in parliament and says they hope to resolve the situation by next week.

She says this started last Friday where the students decided to protest against the Assistant Principal.

Akbar says they sent a team to RKS and they had sorted this issue on Friday.

The Minister says now they are trying to ascertain what had happened over the weekend which resulted in the more than 100 students of RKS putting up a banner outside of their dormitory saying Remove the Principal.

When questioned by SODELPA MP Niko Nawaikula on what measures of discipline are anticipated to be taken on the RKS students that broke the law, Akbar says they will look at the outcome of the investigation and decide on what measures will be taken.

Earlier

Ministry investigates allegations made against RKS Principal by Student Council

We will hear both sides, it will not be swept under the carpet – Akbar

By: Iva Danford - 02/09/2020

Minister for Education, Rosy Akbar has today confirmed that a ministry team is now investigating allegations levelled against the Principal of Ratu Kadavulevu School, Arvind Prasad by the RKS Student Council.

The council says in the letter that they are appealing to the ministry for Prasad to be removed from his position.

Akbar says she received the grievance letter by the Student Council this morning and the ministry has also asked the Principal to respond to the allegations.

She says she did not see any academic issues addressed in the grievance letter and they will hear both sides of the story.

Akbar says they will complete their investigations, come to a conclusion and decide on the best way forward as their main priority is students returning to classes.

The RKS Student Council has claimed that the Principal has made a lot of changes within the school system like abolishing the tradition and culture of what RKS is known for.

In the letter that was delivered to the Ministry of Education, the Student Council claims that some of the changes that the Principal made includes the removal of the RKS prominent competition known as the Sovanivalu, not allowing the school chaplain to enter the school premises, the replacement of their meke practice every Wednesday by a dorm level meeting.

The Sovanivalu is the house competition for most disciplined, best cleanliness and academic of the year.

The Student Council also claimed that the Principal had told them that by the end of the year, the school roll should be 500 and that is why some students were suspended.

They claim that their Principal has never had an assembly and that is why students who were playing rugby were suspended because it was not addressed in the assembly.

The RKS Student Council claims that they have many food shortage complaints and when they had informed the Assistant Principal, he said that the Principal is looking into it.

Ratu Kadavulevu School. 

They have also questioned in their letter if the Principal is also teaching any class as he has not been teaching as every teacher is being employed to teach.

They claim that the flag-raising ceremony that was done over the years has been removed and it has been done anyhow now.

The council further claims that the Principal’s son has been told many times from the teachers to cut his hair but they claim he does not want to listen.

There are other claims that the Principal leaves his dog untied and it has allegedly bitten the Deputy Head Boy.

There are also claims that the Head Boy’s quarters has now been changed to the school security guard house and they are also saying that it is a sign of disrespect when the Principal is crossing the main ground in the car when no one is allowed to cross the ground without special reasons.

The council says RKS is just the same as living in a village and it has it’s by-laws which everyone must follow.

Meanwhile, the RKS Old Boys Association has confirmed that they support the Student Council in this regard and so does the PTA.

The Old Boys Association President Alivereti Yaya says they will be visiting the Prime Minister today to raise concerns about the changes that has been made by the Principal like abolishing the tradition and culture of what RKS is known for.

The Ministry of Education has decided to close RKS for the remainder of the week due to concerns for student safety and school property as a result of a protest by about 100 students at the school.

Minister, Rosy Akbar says when you consider the extraordinary sacrifices that went into keeping Fijians safe from the COVID-19 pandemic and allowing schools to re-open, closing RKS for the week was not an easy decision.

Akbar says they know the vast majority of RKS students would prefer to stay in classes and stay focused on learning, but so long as these protests pose a threat to student safety, that is not possible.

The Minister also urged parents to take this week with their children to re-affirm the importance of remaining focused on studying during the school term.

Akbar says they are trying to understand the students’ grievances.

Fijivillage is receiving information that some of these protesting students had said that they do not want Prasad as RKS Principal because he is Indo Fijian.

When we asked Akbar, she says she hopes that is not the case. She also says she hopes some teachers, officers and parents are not involved in inciting students to conduct this protest as the education of the children is the main priority.

The Minister also confirms that some parents wanted to take their children for the weekend last Friday and some of these students had not returned to school yesterday morning.