“Sorry Plight” Of Fijian Education

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29716, 9 January 1962, Page 2

“Sorry Plight” Of Fijian Education

Until the control of education throughout Fiji is less in the hands of commerciallyminded public bodies the standard of the schools there will remain low, according to a former Indian principal of a Fijian girls’ secondary school, Miss Susheela Pradman. Briefly visiting New Zealand on her way home to India after four years’ work in Fiji, Mias Pradman is spending several days in Christchurch. Deploring the “sorry plight" of the majority of Fijian schools, Miss Pradman said yesterday there was no doubt that the small minority of Government - controlled schools in that country were under infinitely better management. “And until more of them are officially recognised in this way I do not believe that there will ever be any

improbement,” she said. “At present there are too many schools being run by people who have absolutely no idea of education and who are just interested in making money out of them.”

Particularly in Fiji, a multiracial nation, was it important to have a firm, well-con-trolled education system. In fact, education was probably the most important factor in promoting the equable mixing of the various racial groups there. As one of the many Indian teachers who had been lured to Fiji by promises of good teaching conditions, Miss Pradman said she was not alone in feeling sadness and disillusionment at the ineffective education system. Early next month Miss Pradman will return to her home city of Bombay where she hopes to continue teaching. Miss Pradman graduated M.A. in history from Bombay University and for 14 years taught there in both girls’ and mixed schools.