Report attacks

education gap between Fijians and others

The magnitude of the prob

lems facing Fiji’s education

system became even more ob vious with the publication, in late March, of the Fiji Education

Commission report containing

81 recommendations.

The 126-page report, tabled before Legco on March 24, emphasised the urgent need to revise school curriculums, and the need to curb the growth of schools until qualified teachers became available.

It recommended special provisions for Fijians, including 50 per cent, of government scholarships for a limited period, and urged that rural teaching be made more attractive.

Six Junior Secondary Schools should also be built in carefully selected rural areas and country allowances for teachers be provided.

The report urged the establishment of a Fiji Examinations Board, an Adult Education Consultative Com mittee, and a youth volunteer move ment to work in education.

It urged that English continue as the medium of instruction in all secondary schools, with provision for the continued study of Indian dialects and Fijian as cultural languages.

The commission accepted in prin ciple that primary education should be free, but said abolition of fees should be delayed until adequate teachers became available.

In urging special provisions for Fijians, the report recorded deep dis quiet that, despite some striking academic achievements, reports from universities on Fijian first year students were often depressing. This was not because of lack of intellectual ability, but through adjustment diffi culties.

Village conditions also hampered Fijian education development and there were more social distractions for Fijian children than for Indians.

The commission found that, with a few exceptions, representatives of other groups were, in general, very ready to accept some special measures to assist in bridging the gap between the Fijians and other races, though not on a permanent basis.

The six-man commission, which made its investigations last year, was under the chairmanship of Sir Philip Sherlock, a former vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies.