Suva, 10 July 2019 – Following the Circular 78 of 29 October 2018 on guests visiting schools facilitated by tourism operators, we met with the Ministry of Education to plan a way forward to assist the tourism industry with their school visits. As a result, the Ministry has agreed to proceed as follows:
The Ministry acknowledges that school visits provide many benefits to the schools visited by our guests and are grateful for the assistance provided. However, there are also important legal, safety and educational issues arising from the current practice of tourists visiting schools in an ad hoc manner.
As a result, we have worked with the Ministry to develop the following criteria to assist in ensuring school visits are approved and carried out with the Ministry of Education’s overall approval.
- The parental consent form (Form 1/79) requires an annual parental consent for any photographs or videos to be taken of students. Resorts must request this from the Heads of schools, who will ask parents or guardians to sign this for the academic year.
- The Indemnity form (Form 2/79) is required to be signed off between the resort, the school and the Ministry of Education. This is also done for the academic year. This is currently a provisional form while the advice from the Office of the Solicitor-General is being requested by the Ministry of Education. Any updates or changes to these from the Ministry of Education will be advised to you.
- A sample Release and Waiver Form (Form 3/79) between the Guest and the Resorts for school visits is attached for use. The inclusion of the school, its staff, students and the Ministry of Education (as noted in No. 6) is key to this Form requirement being approved by the Ministry of Education. If using your own forms, please ensure this section is included. The Heads of schools will check that this has been done before a group is allowed onto the compound. This is provided at every visit.
- All school visits MUST occur outside of school hours, not during exam periods and WITH the approval of the head of school – this is to ensure that teaching and learning is not disrupted.
- All guests MUST be accompanied by a FHTA member representative. (This is a Ministry requirement)
- Any planned building or repair works MUST be approved by the Ministry prior to commencement and assessed upon completion by a qualified professional. The Ministry has requested this in efforts to “ensure that we continue the approach of building (back) better” and to ensure that there is no “double dipping” by schools.
- Any donations made, including books and other items, will be reported to the Ministry by the FHTA Secretariat every six months. This assists the Ministry to be aware of what has been provided to which school so that they can adjust their own provisioning & budgeting accordingly. Members are therefore requested to provide this information to the FHTA secretariat consistently.
- Please have Forms 1/79 and 3/79 signed off and sent to the DSPS Mr. T Bure at timoci.bure@govnet.gov.fj or call 3220470.
The indemnity forms are sample formats that the Ministry would like used. Please check your legal requirements for use of them. We believe that in implementing this approach, we will jointly ensure a strategic, safe and fair process for school visits.
Necessary Forms:
1. Blanket Visit Permission Form 1/79
2. Indemnity Form 2/79
3. General Release Waiver Activity 3/79
If you currently have a school visitation program or have supported a school in your community in the last 6 months, please provide us the details and your comments if any, to Tareguci Sigarua at aro@fhta.com.fj so we can provide our 6 monthly report (as noted in No. 7) to the Ministry of Education.
