National Federation Party Leader, Professor Biman Prasad says it is utterly shameful that the FijiFirst government ministers have formed a conga line behind their master who is the Attorney-General and Economy Minister and are making a beeline for the people using valuable taxpayers funds when for more than three years they were enjoying the luxury in their ivory towers.
The NFP Leader has described the ministerial visits and meetings as pure electioneering.
Professor Prasad says while the declaration of the official campaign period is 6 weeks away, the ministers have suddenly found time, energy and resources to “scurry all over the country like squeaking, hissing and chattering rats”.
He says so much so that the Education Minister is bending rules set by her own ministry for teachers to stay in their classes during school hours by getting her officers to call individual school heads to release teachers during school hours to attend her gatherings.
Professor Prasad says the Minister had one such gathering in Lautoka during school hours which meant students were denied quality face to face learning when their teachers were away because the Education Minister was more important than students.
He says teachers are disciplined or their salaries docked for late arrivals that may be beyond their control but it is okay for them to miss their teaching duties just because the Minister insists on it.
The NFP Leader says leading the conga line is the AG and Economy Minister.
Professor Prasad says in an attempt to please him, the ministers are falling in line and dancing to their master’s tune.
He says then we have the Agriculture and Commerce Ministers behaving like Santa Claus.
The NFP Leader says the Economy Minister’s whirlwind tour from Ba to Sigatoka over last weekend proves why these consultations are not people-driven.
He says instead of speaking for a few minutes and allowing those with concerns to raise the issues, the Attorney General’s long-winded talks are an attempt to camouflage what was the mood of the people.
Professor Prasad says under the pretext of so-called consultation, the Minister is talking about anything and everything and ludicrously labels those ordinary Fijians asking the right and tough questions as being Professor Prasad’s friends.
Questions sent to Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Agriculture Minister Doctor Mahendra Reddy and Commerce Minister Faiyaz Koya remain unanswered
By: Vijay Narayan
Thursday 17/03/2022
Minister for Education, Premila Kumar says National Federation Party Leader, Professor Biman Prasad is obsessed with the coming election and forgets that there is a current Government which has to carry out its responsibilities until before the next election as the law permits.
Kumar says this is practised everywhere in the world where there is an elected Government in place.
The Ministry says it is once again deeply disappointed by comments made by Professor Prasad in a recent NFP statement titled ‘NFP describes the recent flurry of ministerial activity on the ground as a conga line of ministers abusing taxpayers’ funds.
Kumar says the leader of the NFP can be best described as impolite, abusive and disrespectful.
She says the words that he regularly utters are unbecoming of a man who carries the title of a Professor.
The Education Minister says as a Professor, he should show some humility and respect.
She says you have issues with the Government, you should deal with these professionally.
Kumar says using words such as “the ministers have suddenly found time, energy and resources to scurry all over the country like squeaking, hissing and chattering rats” makes it sound like the Professor has lost his sanity and lacks intelligence.
The Education Minister says there are better ways of being critical and making your point on the basis of facts than by shouting and being abusive.
Kumar says Professor Prasad has simply exhausted all the ammunition in his armoury to pointlessly attack what the Fijian Government is doing for its people during the most difficult time.
The Education Ministry says the Prime Minister and his Ministers have been visiting the communities regularly and not just this year, which he terms as an election year.
Kumar says schools have re-opened and examinations have been conducted, and in fact results for year 13 will be announced today.
She says like a broken record the NFP Leader’s tired old song is once again on repeat – just as he had objected to the school re-opening and return of year 12 and 13 students to schools, he is now complaining about female teachers attending the Teachers Forum to mark this year’s International Women’s Day celebration.
Kumar says the Ministry, in collaboration with Women in Business, organised the Teachers Forums in Suva, Labasa, and Lautoka for the female teachers, with emphasis on Women Leadership in the Education Sector.
She says these Forums have emphasised the need for women to apply for leadership positions in education.
The survey carried out by the Ministry of Education, Heritage, and Arts revealed that while 69 percent of teachers are female, only 27 percent of women teachers are Heads of School.
Kumar says the Forum, therefore, was organised to encourage and empower women teachers towards leadership roles to remove bias and inequality.
She says the NFP Leader has shown disrespect to the female teachers who attended the Teachers’ Forum in Lautoka.
Kumar also says it is also very dishonest of him to say that teachers were taken away because ‘the Education Minister was more important than students”, and is yet another attempt to garner political points.
She says Professor Prasad is playing politics by implying that because teachers attended the Forum, they left the students unattended.
Kumar says a few hours of absence from school by female teachers for the Teachers Forum towards the end of a term to a Forum on women empowerment has been termed by the NFP Leader as denying quality time and quality face to face learning.
She says classes and supervision were organised by the women teachers.
Kumar says earlier in the year, Professor Prasad complained that the Ministry was not addressing issues that teachers had, but now he is complaining about their efforts to actively engage with them.
She says now that movement within the country has been eased, it is appropriate and within the mandate of the Government to move around, commission projects, and consult on many other aspects of its work, including consultations on the mini-budget.
The Education Minister says it is not like the Opposition parties who are desperately in the field of campaigning for the election and spreading misinformation and lies.
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