Issue No: 206; 16 November 2000
Landowners have again threatened to close a government owned secondary school because of dissatisfaction with goodwill
payments.
Landowners where the Ratu Kadavulevu School sits have demanded, amongst others, $0.5m as goodwill payment, and given the
regime 14 days to meet the demands. Other demands include the school employing people from the 3 landowning units, all
teachers' quarters to be taken up by government on rental which will be paid to the landowners, water be supplied to the
villagers and residents staying around the school, landowners be allowed to use the road within the school compound to
extract gravel, log timber and access their farms, and government to pay premiums, rentals and costs of improvements to
the landowners.
The deadline expires on the eve of the first final examination paper for the Fiji Junior Examinations. Landowners have
stated that if the demands are not met, they will close the school before the examinations begin. The RKS is almost an
exclusive indigenous Fijian school funded by the government.
End 17 November 2000