Solving Fiji's Education
p. 19 · Read in the full issue
Problems
ADDRESSES delivered at the tenth annual conference of the Fiji Teachers' Union, which was held in Suva in May, show that considerable progress is now being made In the urgent but difficult work of providing a primary education for the whole of the children in the Colony.
The European children, for the most part, are provided for, and the missions have done much for the Fijian children; but it is suggested that the needs of the Indian children, who generally are eager for education, have not been sufficiently cared for in past decades. However, the addresses at the conference showed that this problem is being rapidly solved, and the Assistant Director of Education (Mr.
A. H. Phillips, B.Sc.) declared that much solid progress had been made in recent years.
In welcoming Mr. Phillips, the Presi dent, Mr. Hari Charan, 8.A., Dip. Ed., said: “The Fiji Teachers’ Union came into being in 1930 as a result of the fusion of the Suva and Lautoka Teachers’
Associations. Since its inception the Union has grown in strength and influ ence. It has as its objectives (1) the ex tension of education to each and every child in Fiji and (2) the promotion and improvement of the standard and status of the teaching profession . . . We hold that primary education is the right of every child beyond all considerations of race, nationality or creed.”