NFP Leader has changed his entire point of view after listening to my statement – Dr. Jokhan

Permanent Secretary for Education, Dr. Anjeela Jokhan says she is glad to see that National Federation Party Leader Professor Biman Prasad has changed his entire point of view after listening to her statement and is now supporting the Minister for Education, Premila Kumar.

Dr. Jokhan has made this comment after Professor Prasad told Legend FM News earlier today that it is not them but Dr. Jokhan and Kumar who came out and said there are unqualified teachers in the system and he has questioned what the Ministry has done in the past years to improve teacher quality.

The NFP Leader also stated earlier today that he has never said that they want unqualified teachers in the teaching system.

When approached for a response on Professor Prasad’s comments, Dr. Jokhan says Prasad had said on Sunday that the Education Minister’s comments are not only derogatory and insulting but a bane of education.

She says the Minister for Education, Premila Kumar has continuously praised majority of teachers who have upgraded their qualifications and registrations and Kumar only wants the small amount of teachers who have failed to keep up to date to get their qualifications.

Dr. Jokhan says Fiji Teachers Registration Authority had reported that teachers with limited authority to teach were given opportunities to pursue their studies from 2009 and unfortunately there are teachers who did not upgrade their qualifications.

She says the Government incentivised teachers by increasing the pay for the qualified teachers from $18,000 to $26,000 and the government has provided is TELS to support more students wanting to obtain teaching qualifications.

The Permanent Secretary for Education says Professor Biman Prasad called the Minister’s comments to have these small number of teachers to upgrade their qualifications the bane of education meaning he would rather these teachers not upgrade their qualifications.

Dr. Jokhan says by attacking the Minister's call for teachers to upgrade their qualifications while defending these small number of teachers who have not, Prasad wants unqualified teachers to teach students as that is what his comments mean.

She says Prasad is now changing his tune and asking what the Ministry is doing.

Dr. Jokhan says the Ministry is calling for the teachers to upgrade their qualifications or their contracts may not be renewed, exactly what Prasad had called the bane of education.

She says Prasad has today completely changed what he has formerly said and is now saying that he never said that they want unqualified teachers in the teaching system.

Dr. Jokhan says Prasad is now trying to do damage control.

She adds they are doing the right thing and Prasad attacked them for the sake of attacking without knowing the facts and without understanding the issue and now when caught out is trying to change his story completely. Dr. Jokhan stresses just a plain degree in science does not make one a qualified teacher.

When contacted, Professor Prasad says he has not changed his tune and Dr. Jokhan is totally confused as to what she and her Minister have said with respect to teachers.

Professor Prasad says teachers in the country now know what the Minister for Education and her Permanent Secretary think about them.

The NFP Leader says the question is what the Ministry was doing when it knew the teachers were failing the English component of the proficiency test in 2017.