“What the ministry needs to look at is give teachers a pay increase, provide a more conducive learning environment and reduce workload given to teachers,” he said.
The Ministry of Education has lost 735 teachers through resignations in 2023, its Permanent Secretary Selina Kuruleca has revealed.
Ms Kuruleca said the biggest challenge the ministry faced going into the new school year was the number of teachers who had left the ministry for greener pastures.
She revealed that the rate the ministry was losing teachers every month was high.
This is despite the ministry receiving an $8.9million allocation in the 2023-2024 National Budget for the salary upgrade of teachers who had completed relevant qualifications in line with the Teacher Remuneration policy.
When asked how the ministry planned to make up for the numbers lost, Ms Kuruleca said it was in the process of hiring and re-hiring teachers.
Fiji Teacher’s Union General Secretary, Muniappa Gounder said more teachers were taking offers from overseas as it paid more than what teachers were paid in Fiji.
“It is a shocking trend; we need to do provide incentives to teachers which includes pay adjustment or increments that was long overdue,” Mr Gounder said.
“What the ministry needs to look at is give teachers a pay increase, provide a more conducive learning environment and reduce workload given to teachers,” he said.
He added said the FTU also recorded a drop in membership numbers through the mass resignations.
“During workshops and meetings, teachers complain over and over again on pay issues, boarding allowance and parents treatment towards teachers, yet there is no teacher protection policy done.”
Mr Gounder said it was time that the ministry take the grievances of teachers seriously.
Discipline Report
PS Kuruleca also revealed that the ministry for the past two years received more than 600 teachers discipline case reports.
“The ministry is committed to improving accessibility to quality education, when we see interventions, we will work collaboratively with our partners to change it,” Ms Kuruleca said.
She added that there was an increase in the number of teachers that applied for transfers.
In 2023, more than 1770 teachers requested for transfers, 96 teachers are from the early childhood education, 558 are primary school teachers and 293 are secondary school teachers.
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