‘No fees incurred for damaged textbooks’
Education Minister Rosy Akbar (left) with St Joseph’s Secondary School principal Jacqueline Low during the heads of primary and secondary schools meeting at St Joseph’s Secondary School in Suva on Thursday. Picture: RAMA
THERE is no policy to recover damaged books under the free textbooks initiative in schools by Government, says Education Minister Rosy Akbar during a forum at Saint Joseph’s Secondary School in Suva.
She said there were no fees incurred if students lost or damaged textbooks.
Ms Akbar said parents had raised concerns after some schools had forced children to pay for damaged textbooks.
“Please work by the guidelines, we don’t have any policy on this at the moment,” she said.
“No child should be denied their right to education just because they lost or damaged textbooks.”
Ms Akbar said they would come up with a solution on how to address this problem.
She said if textbooks were not managed, it would be a burden on the ministry.
“We should work in a team and networking is really important. You need to communicate daily and share your knowledge to other colleagues.
“The role of the ministry is child rearing and the largest chunk of the national budget goes to the Education Ministry because we are the largest employer.”
Head of schools, Ms Akbar said, were urged to improve their work.
She said there were no fees incurred if students lost or damaged textbooks.
Ms Akbar said parents had raised concerns after some schools had forced children to pay for damaged textbooks.
“Please work by the guidelines, we don’t have any policy on this at the moment,” she said.
“No child should be denied their right to education just because they lost or damaged textbooks.”
Ms Akbar said they would come up with a solution on how to address this problem.
She said if textbooks were not managed, it would be a burden on the ministry.
“We should work in a team and networking is really important. You need to communicate daily and share your knowledge to other colleagues.
“The role of the ministry is child rearing and the largest chunk of the national budget goes to the Education Ministry because we are the largest employer.”
Head of schools, Ms Akbar said, were urged to improve their work.