The Ministry of Education, after successfully launching the pilot of its distance learning project, has decided to continue and extend the project into the establishment of the Fiji School of the Air.
The name is being created to depict the nature of the new School, which is providing instructions and services through the air, using Telecom Fiji’s satellite communication system.
The pilot schools can now receive additional services through the Fiji School of the Air with another 11 new schools to be linked to the system by the end of the year.
The schools in the Southern Lau group may take time to be connected due to transportation difficulties. In this respect, schools in Viti Levu are being connected as they are easier to access.
Two schools are now being connected and they are Wainimakutu Secondary and Waidina Secondary.
The Fiji School of the Air provides a unique service delivery mode that uses high technological equipment and demands high level of technological skills from those who will teach from the studio.
The training of these teachers will be undertaken by the Consultants from the Northern Territories sometimes in the near future once the selection process is completed.
The Fiji School of the Air is intended to benefit the remote schools in Fiji who are disadvantaged in a lot of ways and the solution to which could be provided through this new concept.
Filipe Bole
Minister for Education, National Heritage, Culture and Arts, Youth and Sports, Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment.