The education sector is highly important for a country’s development as without quality education there could be no development, says Prof Prem Misir, Vice-Chancellor at UniFiji.
Speaking at the Education Forum meeting held at the Tanoa Hotel in Nadi on Monday (6/03/2017), he said that there needed to be enhancement of the poor education system.
“The education sector is highly important for the country’s development, and, therefore, there must be some alleviation of the poor education quality through progressive policies, programs, and projects, even in rural areas hence, quality teaching, necessary for quality learning, is one of the prerequisites to develop a knowledge society,” he stated.
He also said that the pursuit of a knowledge society requires a revolution in education that would remove all traditional barriers to teaching, accessibility, curriculum, and quality.
“Schools need to develop the capacity of students to learn on their own; to become involved with lifelong learning; and to develop a coping capacity for risk and change. Honing this capacity for using new learning and teaching strategies is not on the radar of traditional primary and secondary education,” he explained.
He further explained that schools needed to be sure that inputs such as school buildings, textbooks, and trained teachers accelerated learning.
“This means bringing into line management of schools and teachers, financing protocols, and incentive systems with the purpose of learning,” he reinforced.
The Education Forum was organized by the Minister of Education Dr Mahendra Reddy and was attended by the Vice-Chancellors of the three major universities as well other participants.
