The Ministry understands the importance of maintaining indigenous languages.
The Ministry of Education, through its Curriculum Development Unit, had developed syllabuses for the vernacular languages, namely i-Taukei language, Rotuman, Hindi and Urdu from Class 1 to Form 7.
The content of such courses offered in schools included oral communication, reading comprehension, writing, language studies, literature, culture study, research and learning resources such as newspapers, etc (students to understand that resources are sources of information and knowledge; data and statistics; leisure and amusements).
Teachers are posted to schools to take up these challenging teaching responsibilities.
The Ministry also supports the teaching of languages such as Telegu, Tamil, French, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese), etc for minority groups, in few schools in Fiji.
Programmes for these minor languages are school-based.
At school, children should be given the opportunity to express themselves freely in their own languages without fear of victimization.
Students should be allowed to use whatever medium of communication appropriate to particular contexts.
In this way, they maintain a sense of belonging to their language and culture.
Schools and school communities play a vital role in the preservation of indigenous languages, especially for the i-Taukei language.
Schools can also advocate to the families in their school community that the family is the first school where the child hears, sees, imitates and practices new knowledge and skills.
All subjects should be equally treated as important.
Vernacular timetables ought to be seriously taken as for any other lesson.
Therefore, parents are reminded of their important role in inculcating to the young minds their only genuine mother tongue and its precious culture, in this world.