Education Ministry investigates alleged grant misuse and workplace harassment at Ba school

The Ministry of Education is investigating allegations of misuse of the Free Education Grant and workplace harassment at a primary school in Ba, following claims by a former teacher that she was transferred from the school due to her complaint to the Ministry of Education.

This comes as videos shared on social media show students crying for their teacher after she was allegedly forcibly removed from the classroom by the school’s head teacher.

Screenshots shared on social media of the complaint that have since been deleted also allege abuse of school facilities and equipment, rearing of animals such as chickens, ducks, dogs, cats, and cows on the school premises, failure to provide personal protective equipment to workers, and kava consumption on school grounds by the head teacher, assistant head teacher, and the admin officer.

While responding to questions from fijivillage News, Minister for Education Aseri Radrodro says that a brief report from the Senior Education Officer in the Ba district highlighted that the teacher was transferred to another school due to a staffing requirement.

He adds an investigation is the normal process undertaken by the Ministry whenever an allegation against a school or a Ministry employee, in this case, teachers are brought to their attention.