Minister for Education Rosy Akbar has pledged to have an open, direct and mutually‑respectful dialogue with the religious leaders as appointments of heads of faith based schools are made going forward.

This was discussed in a good spirited talanoa session between Akbar and the leaders of the faith based organisations after an invitation from the Ministry of Education.

In a joint statement from Akbar and the faith based leaders, the parties confirmed common ground in numerous ways to improve the appointment process, methods that are both aligned to the open merit and recruitment selection guidelines, while also being mindful of the values‑based mission that drives Fiji's many faith based organisations and the institutions they represent.

In this context, it was agreed that appointments of civil servants, including heads of schools, would continue to be made by the Ministry based on merit.

It was re‑affirmed that meaningful consultations will be held with faith based organisations in regards to hiring and the Ministry will strive to ensure that a candidate's ability to uphold and foster the ethos of the school is considered before an appointment is made.

As previously proposed, the Ministry will also revise its job descriptions to reflect this desire to attract candidates with shared ethos to each school along with the ability to support the ethos and traditions of a school, whether it be faith or community‑based.

The Ministry committed to developing a formal policy to address these agreements in the longer term.