From Left: Ravi Chand (Principal Penang Sangam High School); Professor Govinda Lingam (Head of School, SOED); Sanaila Nauga (Senior Education Officer Rakiraki); Dr. Pramila Devi (USP Lautoka Campus Director) & Dr. Jeremy Drovolomo (Chairperson of Post Graduate Committee, SOED)
Teachers in Rakiraki can now conveniently pursue the University of the South Pacific (USP)’s Postgraduate Diploma in Education programme from within their locality.
This was made possible after USP’s School of Education (SOED) decentralized its postgraduate programmes with the endeavor to provide greater access, especially for the in-service students serving in rural and remote locations.
The programme was launched by the SOED and USP Lautoka Campus at Penang Sangam High School in Rakiraki on Saturday, March 17th.
While officially launching the programme, Senior Education Officer Rakiraki, Sanaila Nauga commended the SOED for bringing its services to their doorsteps. He said this will save students’ time travelling long distances to attend the lectures.
“I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity and upgrade your knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the 21st century learning,” he told the teachers.
“With a postgraduate qualification, we expect you to become better teachers and school heads and professionally contribute towards the development of Ra province and the nation as a whole.”
In her welcome remarks USP Lautoka Campus Director, Dr. Pramila Devi highlighted the Campus’ role in providing higher education to the people of the Western Division.
She assured the students that USP Lautoka would continue to bring programmes and courses of this nature to help students prosper in their career paths.
“I take this opportunity to congratulate you all for enrolling in postgraduate programme in 2018, a historical year for USP as we are celebrating our 50th Anniversary, and I wish you all the best in your studies,” Dr. Devi said.
The SOED’s Head of School, Prof. Govinda Lingam enlightened teachers on the benefits of joining the cohorts to upgrade qualification to the postgraduate level.
“We will deliver face to face lectures, workshops and tutorials for all postgraduate courses and the completion rate of programme is accelerated via cohort mode and students now do not have to wait for long to complete their programmes and graduate,” Prof. Lingam said.
Prof. Lingam said majority of teachers from the Western division were willing to take up postgraduate courses, however the geographic location was a major challenge as it made it difficult for them to travel to the Campus to attend lectures. He said the SOED had thus decided to provide cohort-based postgraduate courses in all education districts in the Western division.
Currently, over 40 students have enrolled in the postgraduate diploma in education programme from Rakiraki and will attend Saturday classes at Penang Sangam High School.
Teachers interested in enrolling for postgraduate courses can contact USP Lautoka campus or email Mr. Lalesh Sharma lalesh.sharma@usp.ac.fj for more information.
