The Suva High Court will deliver it’s ruling on notice where the Fiji Teachers’ Union has filed a civil case against the Permanent Secretary for Education and the Attorney General for regularizing those who were acting on vacant positions as this infringes the rights of the teachers for promotion under the principles of Equal Employment Opportunity and the Open Merit Recruitment Selection Policy issued by the Ministry for Civil Service on 30th May, 2018.
The matter was heard before Judge, Justice Dane Tuiqereqere where Solicitor General Ropate Green, who is representing the Permanent Secretary and the Attorney General, has been given until today to file additional affidavits after he introduced evidence from the bar last week.
According to the submission filed by the Fiji Teachers’ Union, the Permanent Secretary of Education does not have the unfettered right or power to regulate and control and or direct the promotion of teachers under the purported memorandum dated 29th January, 2024.
They say this is a curtailment of the teachers’ constitutional rights under the 2013 Constitution.
According to the submission, the Permanent Secretary had advertised the vacant positions of heads of schools in 2023, however, this process was abandoned and appointment of those employees who were acting on the positions for more than six months were automatically confirmed.
Meanwhile, Solicitor General Ropate Green in his responding submission, is urging the court to dismiss the Union’s application as the Permanent Secretary’s actions are consistent with the constitutional framework and the applicable guideline. Green says while an open, transparent and competitive selection process based on merit may seen to suggest strict adherence, it also implies that a Permanent Secretary, within their discretion, can interpret what exactly constitutes openness, transparency, and competitiveness in the selection process.
He says while the provision underscores the importance of fairness and meritocracy, it also recognises the need for flexibility within the Ministry’s operation.
Green says it was evident that there was a need for such a process be undertaken by the Permanent Secretary through the Ministry's memorandum as the Ministry employs nearly 15,000 staff in various roles, including both teaching and non-teaching positions.
He says last year, 846 staff members resigned from the Ministry, and from January to February 2024, there were 226 resignations and in March 2024, there were about 51 resignations.
He says these figures encompass both teaching and non-teaching roles.
Green says the staff who have held acting positions within the Ministry range from 2 to 25 years hence the regularisation of their acting positions is long overdue and the Ministry continued to lose its staff whereby it was necessary that the substantive vacant positions were to be filled.
He says since February 2024, the Ministry has made 1,958 acting appointments, of which 1,420 have been regularised according to the Ministry's Memorandum criteria and among these regularised positions, 804 were filed by Union members, including both teaching and non teaching staff.
The Solicitor General adds the regularisation was necessary.
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