The Minister for Education Mr Filipe Bole wishes to clarify mostly to parents that the change in school hours means classes start at 9.00am and not at 8.30am as was the reason why children need to be at school at 8.00am.
This shift in time for classes was mainly to ensure that children’s safety is paramount.
Many children, who live in rural areas have to wake up everyday and walk to their schools before the sun rises and this poses a danger to them. This was why the school hours were pushed back to give them time to arrive at school safely.
Also in urban areas, many schools were found to have children arriving at school as late as 8.30am and even 9.00am. Many blamed the inconvenience of the time so the Ministry believes that the change in school hours was justified.
However, the Ministry of Education allows school Principals and head teachers to make decisions where they see fit to implement for the sake of children's safety.
This is in response to an article published in the Fiji Times online (23/02/10) about a parent criticising the stand taken by Natabua High School regarding children’s arrival time at school.
The Ministry finds nothing wrong with the decision the school made in telling its students to head straight for school if they happened to arrive in town before 8.00am rather than loitering in town to kill time before classes start at 9.00am.
This was a decision based on good judgment on the part of the staff of the school rather than on impudence as the article is implying.
The Ministry acknowledges that most concerns come from parents who have been asked to cooperate with the schools their children attend.
Parents are encouraged to instill discipline, maturity and wisdom into their children at times like this.
Minister for Education, National Heritage, Culture and Arts, Youth and Sports, Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment, Mr Filipe Bole.