“We do not care if you are a teacher, a parent, or an overly involved alumnus, the government will not tolerate anyone seeking to stand in between Fijian students and their future.”
These are the words of Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama while speaking at the opening of the Ratu Kadavulevu School stakeholders workshop.
Bainimarama says there is a lot he could say about the millions of dollars’ worth of renovations and upgrades his government has funded at RKS, like the new dining hall, kitchen and boilers, the physics and biology labs, and the dormitories but new buildings don’t count for nearly as much as the people within them.
He says this school’s real greatness is not built from brick and steel, it is forged by its community, the passion, commitment, and achievements of its leadership, teachers, staff, and students. Bainimarama says this workshop must harness that potential to position the RKS family for success in a modern Fiji.
Bainimarama says there is an old stigma of privilege and entitlement around this institution that serves no one and must be shed.
Bainimarama says students learn as much from their teachers as they do at home and the example set by teachers can set students on a course that defines their life, for good or for ill.
The Prime Minister then told the students of RKS that seeking out the best and brightest isn’t complicated and they simply reward people based on how they perform and on what they achieve, not who they are, not based on their ethnicity, not based on their religion, and not based on where they come from.
Bainimarama says this is what they mean when we say they are rewarding on the basis of merit.
Meanwhile, Bainimarama says he is glad to know his old dormitory, Degei House, will soon come under construction after it burned down.
[Source: Prime Minister/
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