Time for a change!

Fiji's School Curriculum needs an overhaul! We have borrowed a lot from our colonizers, Britain, and integrated their system into our policies but it is high time we did something about the outdated curriculum.

Fiji, for the past century, has followed the British education system, and the curriculum has still not changed. Dr. Robin Taylor has put forward the issue of using a 150- year old system, which is not suited to today's time, and current context.

Today's education was developed and relevant to an industrial revolution that occurred about 150 years ago. Such an education enabled the children of that time to: Read, wRite and do aRithmetic ù the so called three 'r's. This would allow them to follow written instructions efficiently or indeed to write them. Discipline was strictly maintained because this allowed order to be maintained, which is required if you're busy in factories manufacturing textiles, steel or ships and consistency and uniformity is the golden prize.

Students' interests have evolved dramatically and moved onto more practical, creative, and innovative fields, other than the more traditional, conventional subjects like Maths and English. Students are starting to ask why vocational subjects, and more specified and detailed subjects such as Marine Science and Media Studies are not taught.

Having been through the system myself, I have been extremely frustrated with the limited scope of learning, here in Fiji. I was practically told to choose this subject and that subject, because 'a science subject is not compatible with an arts subject'.

Students are not offered with options of doing subjects which would peak their interests. Rather, they are put into the dilemma of choosing between two fields 'Science' and 'Arts'. They do not have the choice of trying out a few subjects and experimenting to know which they would most likely want to build their career in.They are not given a chance to show what their strengths are.

Even children at Primary level, are drilled into believing that their vocation lies in either Science (Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Technical Drawing) or Arts (Economics, Accounting, History, Geography). This distinction has ruled the lives of products of the Fiji education system for years.

Unfortuately, this is still the case, because the the foundation for this unfair situation is the curriculum itself, which if not overhauled, will continue to undermine the hidden talents and interests of current students as well as those in the future.

If Fiji want to keep up to par with the international educational standards, then it has to do away with the strict old British system of limited learning. Countries like Australia and New Zealand have cleverly modified the traditional British education structure by including more hands-on subjects into the curriculum. True, they are developed countries. But if Fiji, a developing country, wishes to attain the same position as these two developed countries, than obviously, Fiji needs to have a similar education structure in place.

That means, whilst including newer, more 'fun' subjects, the curriculum should be more accomodating and have the students interests' at its core, rather than just looking at the overall development of the education system itself. Otherwise, Fiji will still be producing students with a limited learning base, simply because our system does not cater for a wider, variant, and broader knowledge base.

The true purpose of having an education system in place is to nourish a student's thirst for knowledge. We are killing the keenness and spontaniety of student life, if we stick to the same 150- year old curriculum.

But then, again, the Ministry of Education is doing its best, to update the curriculum..... students may now have a chance to participate in a new programme about to be introduced. What's that? A fashion school programme.... how innovative! We really are taking the students interests at heart!