SUVA, Fiji (3 Aug 2000) -- Stripped of political power and rendered third-class citizens in their own country, Indo-Fijians are voting with their feet. The mass exodus has created a brain-drain that threatens to severely damage Fiji's education and medical care systems already in shambles. According to Fiji Teachers Confederation secretary general, Agni Deo Singh, over 300 teachers have applied for visas and other documentation that will enable them to leave Fiji. Singh said the brain-drain would create a shortage of qualified teachers for years to come. "The massive shortage of teachers at secondary level will mean making a compromise in standards," Singh said. Singh sited the overthrow of the democratically elected government, the scrapping of the 1997 multi-racial constitution and growing lawlessness as the primary reasons for the migration out of Fiji not just by Indo-Fijians but also indigenous Fijians. | | Victims of lawlessness and racist violence, Indo-Fijians are migrating out of Fiji leaving the island nation with a severe shortage of teachers and medical personnel. To halt the brain-drain, Prime Minister Qarase has appealed to Fijians not to leave the country but stopped short of promising to uphold the 1997 multiracial constitution. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
