Education empowers and it is through education we now have women taking important positions in the Government, science, technology and it is for this reason the quality of education for women should not be compromised.
In highlighting the message, the Ministry for Social Welfare, Women & Poverty Alleviation permanent secretary Mr Govind Sami said the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day Celebrations (IWD), “Equal Access to Education, Training, Science and Technology: Pathway to Decent Work for Women,” reiterated the need to ensure that the quality of education for girl child and women should be of utmost importance.
“There should be equality of access whether it’s male or female. There has to be equality. In the traditional patriarchal society there is still a notion that the girl is just fit for the kitchen and house, this mindset must change,” Mr Sami said.
“And this is why we have said the theme, ‘equal access to education, training, science and technology’ must be prioritized to foster women development.”
He said the ministry through its various district offices had capitalized on the IWD to be marked on March 8th by organising a number of programmes with the academic institutions and stakeholder groups to create greater awareness on the importance of the women in the society
“For very long women have been subjected to suppression and increasingly there is this realization that women no longer should be taken for granted and they have a right to be considered as important contributors of the socioeconomic structure of a country,” Mr Sami said.
“Fiji has seen progress in terms of advancing women through education and as the number of females assisted through government scholarship and the number of female graduates are increasing.
“Almost 30 women from social welfare programmes have now have found a pathway and graduated into formal employment. Women are the backbone of the family and their economic contribution is not normally measured and there is a need to recognise it.
“The number of girls on scholarships and the number of girls graduating is increasing and Fiji is progressing well towards Millennium Development Goal 2, Achieve Universal Primary Education,” Mr Sami added.
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