Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Solomons Education Ministry scrambles to ward off school closures

Posted at 17:42 on 12 October, 2012 UTC

The under-secretary for tertiary education in Solomon Islands says the Education Ministry is doing its best to avoid a strike by ensuring schools receive their annual grants.

Teachers across the country have threatened to shut schools from next week if they do not get their government grants by the end of this week.

Franco Rodie says the Ministry of Education is taking responsibility and has submitted the required paper work to the Ministry of Finance for the funds to be released and disbursed to schools.

“I don’t want to point fingers to anybody. Rather I’d like to see this as a situation which is unfortunate and that the ministry as a whole should be blamed for it.”

Franco Rodie says the Ministry of Education is following up with the Ministry of Finance on a day to day basis to find out when the funds have been released but has not received a definitive answer.