Table of Contents
Early Struggles & Community Schools
Long before the government built classrooms in the cane belt, Indo-Fijian families built their own. They raised funds through melas, carried timber on their shoulders, and paid teachers from temple collection boxes. Out of these struggles rose a nationwide network of schools that transformed literacy rates and laid the foundations for Indo-Fijian professional life.
Education After Girmit
When indenture ended in 1920, most Indo-Fijians were illiterate. Colonial policy offered little incentive to change that. The administration built few schools for Indians, prioritising European children and missionary efforts for iTaukei. Indo-Fijians who wanted literacy for their children had to create it themselves.
Early schools were bamboo huts or corrugated-iron sheds in cane fields. Teachers were often semi-educated volunteers paid in food or coins collected at Sunday gatherings. Lessons were basic — alphabets, arithmetic, Hindi prayers — but the symbolism was profound: for parents who had cut cane all week, seeing children hold books was liberation.
“If the government will not build us schools, we will build our own.”
The Role of Melas
Melas — cultural bazaars of drama, song, and dance — became the engine of Indo-Fijian education. Villagers staged Ramayan recitals, nautanki plays, and qawwali nights, charging small entry fees or selling food. The proceeds built classrooms, bought blackboards, or paid teachers.
These events were more than fundraisers: they reinforced culture. Children learned Hindi through drama scripts, music through harmonium lessons, and values through stories of Ram, Krishna, and the Prophet. Thus, Melas educated twice — by financing schools and by transmitting tradition.
First Indo-Fijian community schools established in cane districts.
Arya Samaj and Sanatan Dharma Sabha expand school networks.
Indo-Fijian literacy rates rise sharply; teachers become professionals.
Religious Organisations & Schools
Hindu and Muslim reform movements took the lead. The Arya Samaj founded schools with Hindi-medium instruction and science subjects; the Sanatan Dharma Sabha built schools that integrated temple life with classrooms. Muslim communities established madrasas that blended religious and secular subjects.
By the 1950s, these faith-based schools formed the backbone of Indo-Fijian education, enrolling thousands across Ba, Tavua, Labasa, and Nadi. They were often staffed by teachers trained at Indian institutions or by missionaries sympathetic to Indo-Fijian struggles.
Case Study: A School Bazaar in Lautoka
In the 1930s, Lautoka families staged a two-day Mela to raise funds for a school roof. Men acted out scenes from the Ramayana; women cooked curries and sweets; musicians played harmonium and dholak. Children collected coins in tins. By nightfall, enough money had been raised to buy timber. A month later, a new classroom opened — built not by the state, but by the community.
Teachers as Leaders
Indo-Fijian teachers were more than educators. They were role models, community organisers, and cultural guardians. Many became village scribes, writing letters for illiterate parents or negotiating leases with landlords. Others moved into union leadership, feeding into the formation of the Fiji Teachers’ Union (FTU).
Teachers gave Indo-Fijians their first taste of professional respect. A child whose father cut cane could now aspire to wear a tie, grade papers, and be addressed as “Master Sahib.” It was a revolution in dignity.
The Fiji Teachers’ Union
The FTU, founded in 1929, became one of the most influential Indo-Fijian institutions. It campaigned for equal pay regardless of ethnicity, better facilities in rural schools, and recognition of teachers as professionals.
FTU leaders such as Vishnu Deo and others later entered politics, showing how classrooms became pathways to national leadership. The union also nurtured a culture of civic responsibility: its conferences doubled as forums for debating democracy, language policy, and social justice.
“The chalkboard was our parliament, the FTU our first party.”
Women in Education
Education opened new roles for Indo-Fijian women. Female teachers became pioneers of independence, managing classrooms while challenging stereotypes. They also sustained school finances through women’s committees, organising food stalls at Mela or sewing uniforms to raise funds.
Girls’ schools, though scarce at first, multiplied by the 1940s. For many families, sending a daughter to become a teacher was both practical and honourable — she would earn a wage, sustain siblings, and command community respect.
First community schools founded with volunteer teachers.
Mela bazaars fundraise for classrooms and teachers’ salaries.
Faith-based networks expand schools; literacy rates rise dramatically.
FTU becomes national voice for education policy and equality.
Legacy of Community Schools
The Indo-Fijian commitment to education created an enduring culture: self-help, sacrifice, and solidarity. Every school that rose from a Mela stage testified to a community that refused to wait for the state. Indo-Fijian literacy levels soared, creating the professionals who later built Fiji’s economy.
Even today, many Indo-Fijian schools retain their community boards, women’s committees, and annual bazaars. The model forged in the 1920s still powers Indo-Fijian education a century later.