14 May 2015

Fiji opposition comments 'breathtakingly ignorant'

2:52 pm on 14 May 2015

Fiji's Education Minister has described the opposition's criticism of the government's programme to set up a nationwide network of Technical Colleges as "breathtakingly ignorant."

Mahendra Reddy, Education Minister, Fiji

Mahendra Reddy, Education Minister, Fiji Photo: Fijian Government

The Sodelpa party has criticised the establishment of the colleges, saying they're expensive and that iTaukei would not benefit from them.

But the minister, Mahendra Reddy, says the programme is designed to increase the skills base of Fijians, and that people of all ethnicities were benefiting from the technical college campuses.

Mr Reddy says the skills people gain in various trades at the schools are designed to train them for fulfiling careers and an essential part of the government's programme to lift the skills set of the nation.