The Ministry of Education is in the process of recruiting teachers for early childhood education, primary and secondary schools and is also using this opportunity to replace some unqualified teachers with qualified teachers.
This has been confirmed by the Permanent Secretary for Education, Anjeela Jokhan who says the recruitment will continue until they have all teachers in place and they know this will improve teaching in schools.
She has revealed this after revelations that about 538 teachers have not renewed their teacher registration license and risk termination.
When questioned why unqualified teachers are teaching in schools, Jokhan says the Teacher Remuneration Policy of 2018 describes a fully qualified teacher as one having a Bachelors in Education Degree at the appropriate level, including early childhood education, special and inclusive education, primary and secondary.
She says a person with the relevant Diploma in Education is appointed as assistant teacher and therefore they have a mixture of teachers in these categories.
Jokhan says the Ministry would like to appoint more teachers with degrees to better resource its schools.
Meanwhile, Jokhan says as an employer, they are concerned that so many teachers have not bothered to renew their registrations with Fiji Teachers Registration Authority despite notices sent to them.
She says it is the responsibility of the teachers to keep their registrations current to teach in a school as required by law.
Jokhan says by not renewing their certificate of registrations, these teachers have breached the Fiji Teachers Registration Act 2008.
Jokhan adds when these teachers were employed, they had valid registration certificates which have now expired.
The Permanent Secretary for Education further says professional registration is the responsibility of the employee and their respective registration bodies.
