Education Ministry yet to confirm if further discussions will be held with Health Ministry about school re-opening

The Education Ministry is yet to confirm if further discussions will be held with the Health Ministry about the re-opening of schools next week following confirmation by Permanent Secretary for Health Doctor James Fong that there is an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in all divisions.

Doctor Fong also says the COVID-19 cases are anticipated to continue to increase.

We have sent questions to Education Minister Premila Kumar and Permanent Secretary for Education Doctor Anjeela Jokhan.

They are yet to respond.

Concerned parents have contacted fijivillage saying they are worried about the safety of their children especially after Doctor Fong said that they are working on the assumption that the Omicron variant is already in Fiji and is being transmitted within the community.

Doctor Fong has said that they expect that genomic sequencing results of positive samples sent overseas will confirm the presence of Omicron in the community.

The Permanent Secretary has stated that they are expecting escalated levels of community transmission to be more evident over the ensuing weeks.

Face to face classes for Early Childhood Education to Year 7 will start from the 10th of January, next year.

The classes for Year 8 to 13 will resume on the 4th of January, next year.

Exams for Year 13 will be held from 1st to 11th February next year and the results are expected to be released on 17th March while the exam for Year 12 will be from the 7th to 17th of February and results are expected to be out on the 6th of April.