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Children voice concerns about Fiji's education system


On 8 December 2009, the Australian National University's Crawford School of the College of Asia and the Pacific held a Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Region update conference in conjunction with AusAID (the Australian government's overseas aid program).

Sharon Bessell, Senior Lecture in the Crawford School at the ANU presented a session entitled "Strengthening Fiji's education system: a view from key stakeholders." She was part of a qualititative study with children and youth in Fiji to determine their views and experiences of education. Two areas were highlighted: (1) corporal punishment; and (2) teachers' professionalism.

The study aimed in June 2009 aimed to capture young people's views on education through a Children's Forum on Education in Suva. A recurrent theme was of corporal punishment being used as a routine strategy for classroom management. Children maintained that teachers used corporal punishment because they were not trained in other methods of discipline. Participants described hitting, caning, and being humiliated in front of others as "bad" forms of discipline. Children and youth suggested that teachers should be told not to use corporal punishment (corporal punishment was declared unconstitutional by the High Court of Fiji in 2002), and that inspectors should visit schools to ensure that it doesn't happen.

At the Children's Forum on Education, the issue of teacher professionalism was discussed. Children said that some teachers come to school late, don't attend at all, arrive intoxicated or hungover, taught by reading the textbook, and occassionally made sexual comments to children, especially girls. They recommended a Code of Ethics for teachers, teacher training in alternative methods of discipline, and that there is a "safe" school environment in which students can raise their concerns.

The conclusion of Bessell's session was that currently most schools in Fiji were not safe environments for conducive teaching and learning, and that teacher training should be strengthened to support best practices in classroom management.

The weaknesses of the study was that only 29 children were interviewed and there was little contextual information regarding current practices, teacher training and government policies in education. Nevertheless, it did provide educators in Fiji with some views that school is still a negative experience for some children in Fiji.
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