Fiji Teachers Union General Secretary Agni Deo Singh says there needs to be more face to face classes if Year 12 students will have to repeat if they fail their exams.
Singh says this has been an extraordinary year and most of the students have not had the benefit of ample face to face lessons with teachers.
He says the alternative methods that were implemented by the Ministry of Education were not as effective and a number of students were not able to access lessons through Zoom or other methods.
He adds they have proposed to the Ministry to have consultations with teachers and determine how much more time should be given to students.
Singh says the Ministry has a tendency of conducting communication one way where they tell teachers what to do rather than getting feedback from them.
He claims many teachers are afraid of coming out with the truth.
Singh says they have spoken to some students as well and it is true that rushing through the syllabus just for the sake of completing the lessons will not produce the desired results. Permanent Secretary for Education, Dr. Anjeela Jokhan had said this week that Year 12 students who do not pass their exam will remain in Year 12 however the students’ performance will not just be determined by one exam.
She says the reason why they have external exams in Year 12 and 13 is that students progress based on exam results.
Doctor Jokhan says the details would be different for different countries but there are ways to ensure that students are not unduly penalized.
She adds one of the ways is to look at the history of a student’s performance.
She says they have several methods on the table and a lot of it would depend on how well and how poorly students have performed.
Doctor Jokhan says there are lot of combinations that they can have but they do not want to pre-empt anything at this stage.
