The Ministry of Education wishes to respond to Mrs Tuisawau’s letter to the Editor (F/T-0 13/02] regarding the topic of school zoning.
While Mrs Tuisawau is correct in her pointing out the issues and the complexities of schools zoning, it would have been much better for her to have obtained more insight into the processes that the Ministry is working on before putting in place all the legislations and policies on school zoning.
The Ministry for some time has been discussing the merits and demerits of school zoning. All the ideas discussed by Mrs Tuisawau are normal considerations in any school mapping and zoning exercise, which any students taking a course in educational planning will go through.
The establishment of new schools in disadvantaged areas and upgrading of junior secondary schools to full secondary up to Form 7 are all part of the processes of school zoning.
The Ministry is working through a holistic plan in its development of which are already in place, which includes the abolition of examinations, new assessment strategies and the twelve years of basic education.
The Ministry has gone far beyond concepts and theory and is already into the practical processes of implementing school zoning. The approach by the Ministry will be carried out in phases and it will be taken out to schools and communities for consultation before actual implementation.
It would be far better for people to start talking about the idea once they have learned more of the actual processes that the Ministry will take. That definitely will reduce their comments to actual constructive facts that will assist the Ministry improve the system rather than mere finger pointing that will not help anybody.
The Ministry at this point wishes to inform the public that it has developed a new model of education, which will modernize the whole system of education in Fiji. It is not developing parts of a system but rather a whole new system which should bring about greater hope and opportunities for the children of Fiji and to realize the overall vision of government.
Filipe Bole, Minister for Education, National Heritage, Culture and Arts, Youth and Sports, Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment.