January 7, 2022
Government’s decision to risk the lives of students is Negligence
The decision by Government to ignore sound advice and risk unvaccinated students even as young as four to five years old to Covid-19 from Monday is sheer negligence, said National Federation Party Leader Professor Biman Prasad.
Professor Prasad in the last few days parents from throughout the country have called him expressing their fear about sending their children to school when the third wave of Covid-19 is raging in the community.
“A month ago, we called on government to reveal its plan of action should a third wave of the pandemic sweep across the nation”.
“This government, as usual, kept quiet. Instead, it intensely and solely focused on tourism, once again putting all its eggs in one basket”.
The NFP Leader also asked why the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General are silent when a crisis is developing right before their eyes.
“The silence of the PM and AG is deafening. Is this deliberate? Are they waiting for the crisis to worsen before they step in and portray themselves as saviors?
“Will someone be sacrificed in a bid to save the image of a heartless government and its two-man rule?”
“Because no Government with compassion and care for the people would put the lives of its citizens at risk, despite knowing fully well that the public health and medical facilities and care is incapable of handling a massive health crisis.
“In this case we are talking about children in primary school and in early childhood education centres. Surely, Government is not intellectually impaired so as not to see and hear what’s going around”.
“But it seems insanity, arising out of sickening arrogance, has gripped all facets of governance. One only has to read how the Education Minister and her Permanent Secretary are trying to justify negligence”.
“The Education Minister has embraced a UNESCO report to justify why face-to-face learning doesn’t drive community transmission. She is brandishing a WHO report to claim children contracting Covid-19 have milder systems”.
“Not to be outdone, her permanent secretary says schools should install more fans and open doors and windows of classrooms to prevent the spread of Covid-19 if social distancing is not possible”.
“Both deliberately ignore the fact that over 99% of our schools are community run institutions or owned by religious and cultural organisations”.
“For the last two years, many schools have not received the full grants and the ministry is making it difficult for the management to vire funds from one allocation to another. The schools cannot fundraise except with the permission of the ministry to even maintain existing facilities”.
“How does the ministry expect the school managements to facilitate additional installations?” “Both the Minister and her permanent secretary should ask the Fiji First government to improve hospitals by at least removing grass growing on the walls (of CWMH) and giving the buildings a fresh coat of paint before barking orders at school management”.
“Whatever happens, this government will bear the wrath of people at the ballot booths in the elections. They will not forget how they and their children were treated to satisfy the egos of the current government’s leadership”.
Professor Biman Prasad
Leader