The Minister for Education, Hon. Premila Kumar was at Tilak High School in Lautoka yesterday where she inducted prefects for the year 2022 and also took the opportunity to inspire them with empowering and encouraging words.
“I congratulate you as you get inducted today and enter to serve your new job description of being a student leader for this prestigious institution. You will face challenges but you will need to be firm, confident and neutral when carrying out your duties’’ said Hon. Kumar.
Tilak High School is a renowned school in the western division and is known to produce leaders who are currently serving in different institutions such as the current Head of School of Swami Viveknanda College, Rajesh Krishna and Digicel Fiji CEO, Farid Mohhamed, to name only two.
The Minister also took time to address the parents who were present in the function where she appealed to them to allow their children to pursue their dreams even if it is in Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) as TVET graduates end up earning more whilst creating job opportunities for others. She further highlighted that while there is a need for teachers, doctors, engineers, lawyers and nurses, there is also a need for dancers, make-up artists, carpenters, electricians and so forth.
She also came out strongly on the importance of parental responsibilities and emphasised that this role can never be shifted to schools and teachers. She urged parents to ensure they carry out their parental roles with more vigilance.
Minister Kumar also stressed on the importance of tablets in schools, which can be purchased using Free Education Grant so that usage of ICT in learning and teaching is not confined to special rooms like computer labs. She said that students are way ahead of the game and if teachers are not able to use ICT in their teaching, learning will not be exciting.
She urged teachers to seriously consider usage of ICT or else their learning and teaching strategies will become obsolete. The Minister also met teachers to have a special Talanoa session.