Ministry of Education disappointed by comments made by Ro Teimumu

The Ministry of Education says they are disappointed by comments made by Ro Teimumu Kepa in a Fiji Times article about the learning schedule for children where she said in the article that the Ministry was not providing a learning schedule for students after the school break had to be brought forward and extended as a COVID-19 safety measure.

They say this is not true.

Opposition MP, Ro Teimumu Kepa, in the article says that leaving children without any learning schedule will only cause more stress to teachers when face to face learning resumes in classrooms.

She also said that when the ministry decided to shut down schools, they should have thought of home learning programs, community-based remedial programs, online classes, and radio classes as was done last year.

The Ministry says they do not make students take lessons during their break.

They say they are providing supplementary worksheets for students, which include revision material for Term 1 which is available on the Ministry’s website.

They say the worksheets for Years 1 to 7 primary school students will be on Literacy and Numeracy, while for students in Years 8 to 13, there are subject-specific worksheets.

The Ministry says they will also be airing educational lessons for all students on Fiji Radio 1, and Fiji Radio 2 and the Walesi Educational channel from today.

They say these initiatives are similar to the ones from last year, and the material covers primary and secondary school students, so it is unclear how primary and secondary school students are being abandoned.

The Ministry also says there has never been a policy to provide learning material during the actual break, which Ro Teimumu, as a former education minister should be aware of, and the question must be asked what, if any similar incentives, she had during her time in the role.

They also say that they are concerned that the Fiji Times did not even attempt to get a comment from the Ministry and simply published statements that were obviously not factual.

We have sent questions to Ro Teimumu Kepa and the Fiji Times.

Ro Teimumu says she will provide a response in due course while Fiji Times is yet to respond.