The Education Ministry does not condone bullying in schools, but does understand the need for a greater understanding of the issues by all stakeholders in order for the problems to be effectively addressed.
Bullying is caused by a number of factors, which can either be school or family-related. It must be known that such problems need our shared responsibility.
Under Fiji’s Good Governance Programme, which is co-funded by UNDP, NZAID and the Education Ministry, Citizenship Education has been developed to be integrated in the school curriculum. The programme looks at learning to be good citizens through traditional and cultural practices.
It involves the teaching of human rights and responsibilities, values, democracy, peace and justice, cultures and beliefs and sustainable development. These topics are integrated into the different subjects from Kindergarten to Form 7.
The Ministry sees the need to introduce children to societal issues at an early age in order to generate interest, build awareness and develop skills to enable children to deal with daily challenges.
In addition, the Family Life Education programme, which is geared towards developing students’ attitudes, skills and knowledge, provides them with the necessary skills and knowledge to make them law-abiding citizens.
Form time, assemblies and other forums are used in schools as counseling sessions. While forms times and assemblies are used as general counselling sessions, school counsellors organize their sessions on a one-to-one basis in order to deal with students who have discipline problems.
With these programs in place, there is hope that students will embrace love, peace, humility and tolerance in their schools. Bullying, definitely has no place, in a school set up.
Minister for Education, National Heritage, Culture and Arts, Youth and Sports, Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment, Mr Filipe Bole