Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation Board Director Arvind Maharaj says there is a lack of measurement on taxpayer funds that goes towards the Free Education Grant and the Free Bus Fare Scheme.

Maharaj was among the panellists speaking at a Dialogue Fiji event on Addressing Quality in Fiji’s Tertiary Education.

Maharaj says the private sector is moving at a rapid pace and the education institutions need to step up and equip graduates with the skills employers seek.

He says millions of taxpayer funds are spent on education, however, the student success rate has never been measured in Fiji.

“You have free education from class one. I know for a fact I’ve had steps when I was in FNU. They go through primary school, they go to high school, go to university, second year, drop out. So all the millions of dollars that have gone into education, who measures that?”

Maharaj says a Fiji model is needed to gauge each industry’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product.

He further states that while it is a good thing that Fiji’s inward remittances has uptick, but questioned whether it is right to let skilled people continue to leave the country.

“You know, we hear the prime minister say, well, we got 1.2 million dollars of remittance coming in. Right? So are they still going to allow people to leave? So that money comes back into Fiji? So these are the hard questions we need to ask. No, we can’t force people to stay. But I’m talking about the schemes and the partnerships with Australia, New Zealand and so on.”

Maharaj states it is not advisable to encourage people to leave as businesses are finding difficulty in meeting the skills gap.

However, Fiji High Education Commission Chief Executive, Dr Rohit Kishore argues that a number of people in the country are still unemployed.

“But what I’m saying, there are people still unemployed. We are not zero unemployed. Our people are leaving, but people are still here, looking for jobs. No, no, seriously. And what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to up-skill and reskill them.”

Kishore states that they are talking with industry stakeholders to identify their needs to be able to produce graduates with the right skills set. However, he says this will take time.