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The standard of education in the country is being compromised with experienced teachers forced to make their exit following the lowering of the retirement age, says the Fiji Council of Social Services.
Executive director, Hassan Khan said it was a concern that the replacement for skilled teachers were third-year trainees.
“At the moment there are some very young principals and school management committees are fairly concerned about the future of the children.
“It would have been better to get retirees at half their salary and continue with them for at least one or two years before getting trainees to gain some mentoring from them,” Khan said.
More than 2000 civil servants retired on April 30 this year.
Last week, Public Service Commission permanent secretary Parmesh Chand said all retired civil servants who have been re-engaged will be laid off at the end of the year.
A total of 241 retirees, with scarce skills were initially re-engaged.
This number has been further reduced to 216, and by the end of the year, the majority, of those re-engaged will complete their contract.
Chand said PSC is conducting a performance audit in all Ministries and Departments.
“The voluntary retirement policy is also part of the Roadmap, most of the preliminary work, such as the preparation of the criteria for eligibility for voluntary retirement is currently being conducted.”
“A Cabinet paper on the issue is being drafted and should be ready for tabling in the middle of September. According to the Roadmap, the implementation of this policy should take effect at the beginning of 2010.”
