The Minister for Education, Heritage and Arts, Premila Kumar, held a press conference today (6/10/22) announcing four (4) school terms for the academic year, 2023.
The Minister said that the Fiji education system has always had three (3) terms in a school year divided into 14 weeks for Terms 1 and 2, and 13 weeks for Term 3. After each term, students and teachers were given 2 weeks break except Term 3 where they had 7 weeks break.
The Ministry has considered the option of a four-term academic year in 2023 and the proposal has been well received by stakeholders such as the Fiji Head Teachers Association, the Fiji Principals Association, Fiji Retailers Association, parents, teachers, Heads of Schools, Faith Based Organizations, and Fijian Teachers Association.
Each term will be for 10 weeks which adds up to approximately 200 days, which is over the minimum required days for schools to open for classes as set out in the Education Act. As per the 1978 Education Act, Section 29 7 (b) the schools should be open for not less than 195 days in any school year.
Minister Kumar said that having a four-term academic year for schools will allow teachers to have breaks following shorter school terms, given that teachers work hard during the term and manage students which is challenging and physically draining.
“Having 10 weeks per term with 4 term model is better than having 14 weeks under 3 term model as it allows students to have breaks, refresh and prepare for another 10 weeks,” said Minister Kumar.
Minister Kumar further stated that the nation faces the tropical cyclone season from November to April and it peaks between January and March, and schooling had been greatly affected by frequent flooding and devastations caused by cyclones mostly in the months of late December and January.
She asserted that due to the disasters, some schools have also been used as evacuation centres which further delays the re-opening of schools. This causes a lot of disruption to schools with school closure soon after the start of the term.
Minister Kumar said that the new arrangement will reduce the possibility of dealing with disruptions to schools hence finishing the year in the middle of December and starting the year late in January will be very beneficial.
The term holidays have been aligned to Australia and New Zealand which will allow better planned family holidays as Fijians have many relatives in these countries.