The Ministry of Education has today made clarifications on teacher salaries following concerns raised by teachers through the Fiji Teachers Union that they were not receiving the salaries as stated by the Permanent Secretary for Education, Dr. Anjeela Jokhan last Thursday.
Dr. Jokhan had stated last week that a teacher with a degree receives $26,000 salary annually while assistant head teachers' salaries increased from $21,000 to $32,000 annually.
The Ministry is now saying that teachers with a degree and teacher training qualifications (education units including practicum) are paid between the salary range of $22,528.74 to $26,283.53 per annum and it regrets if this has caused confusion as only the upper range was mentioned during the press conference last week.
The Ministry says it should also be noted that the starting salary of assistant head teachers is based on the classification of the school size.
It says to support teachers’ professional development, the Government has allocated In-Service Scholarships for Bachelor’s Degree in Special and Inclusive Education, Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and Diploma/Bachelors in Counselling and Psychology in this financial year.
The Ministry adds teacher training programmes are offered in a flexible mode which they are using to study and over the past 4 years, the Ministry has upgraded the salaries of 1,454 teachers who have upgraded their qualifications and they strongly encourage other teachers to continue upgrading their qualifications to keep abreast with the developments in the education sector through professional development.
The Ministry adds the Fiji Teachers Registration Authority Act 2008 states that professional development is a requirement for the renewal of teacher registration certificates.
The Ministry further says that practicum is an important component of the teacher training programme as it helps student teachers to understand the full scope of a teacher’s role in teaching and managing students.
It says teachers with diploma and certificate level qualifications are advised to upgrade their qualifications if they wish to receive a higher salary as per the Teacher Remuneration Setting Policy either to progress to higher positions or to compete in a teaching field where there are more graduates fully qualified to teach in a certain discipline.
Meanwhile, Dr. Jokhan says the Ministry as an employer is looking at all teacher grievances including salary anomalies based on established procedures and is requesting teachers to liaise with the Ministry.
She says the Ministry will investigate all grievances accordingly.
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