Fiji’s Education Minister Aseri Radrodro today reiterated the need to repeal the automatic progression policy, highlighting its role in creating significant learning gaps, declining exam results, and a culture of complacency.
Speaking at a national consultation in Suva, Radrodro highlighted the need for students to achieve grade-level competencies before advancing.
Introduced in 2015, the current system promotes progression from ECE to Year 12 regardless of performance.
“Education is the foundation of any progressive society,” Radrodro said. “The Ministry of Education’s objective of repeating automatic progression from the education system is to ensure that students achieve the learning outcomes and competencies of a particular level before they advance to the next academic level.
“Automatic progression has created a culture of complacency among students, amongst teachers, amongst parents, students may not feel the need to put in the required effort to achieve academic excellence as their promotion to the next grade is somewhat guaranteed regardless of their academic performance.”
Since 2018, Year 8 exam results have fallen below 70% and Year 12 results below 80%.
The consultation, supported by an online survey with 626 responses so far, aims to gather feedback from stakeholders.
Submissions close at 4:30pm today.The survey is available on the Ministry of Education website and Facebook page.
