A district office is up for sale. A hilarious notion when you first hear of it but the situation that has forced the Marist Brothers to put up for sale a quarter acre of land with an existing building leased by Faleata No.1 is very grim.

The asking price is almost half a million tala, which is a necessary evil even if the Marist Brothers do not want to sell. The chairman of the Marist Brothers Trust Board, Brother Sefo Une said the decision had to be made by the board to put the property at Sinamoga on the market to assist in teachers’ salaries.

The teachers he is referring to are those at St Joseph's College and Marist Brothers Primary School in Mulivai.  Br. Une said for the last two years, they have been receiving lower grants and the Trust cannot sit idle and not take action.

This is a situation not isolated to just these two schools. It is being felt by schools all over the country which have to pay teachers. The reason for this is the simple fact that the government chooses not to employ teachers except the ones who teach in government schools.

Yet the government sets the standards on the qualification of teachers and sets the rules on who can teach but will not bear the responsibility of paying teachers. The Ministry of Education has admitted that there is a national crisis because there are not enough teachers in classrooms across the country.

The quality of education is being impacted yet the steps being taken to address the situation do not seem to be working. It is rather saddening to see that the government has closed its purse to address this issue that is affecting children who would become the workforce of tomorrow, yet it is open without much restriction to the impending Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

The very reason there is a national crisis is because the teaching profession is not attractive anymore. People do not find the package lucrative enough to become teachers anymore. There was a time when teachers were accorded almost similar respect to a chief. Those days are gone. Teaching is now a stepping stone to other fields.

The education at the university is sponsored. Most start in teaching and try and switch courses thinking that a scholarship would cover that. Those who graduate as teachers switch jobs after years of being on the same salary.

All schools apart from the government ones are finding it hard to pay the salaries of the teachers in their employment.

“If this is the trend we are going about with teachers leaving the country to follow a money trail, we are looking into hiring volunteers from overseas like Australia and Fiji which have a lot of teachers who retire after the age of 55,” Br. Une has said.

This is the solution for one school but what about the others? Does the government fail to see the bigger picture here?

The lack of teachers leads to poor education and results in an unqualified workforce. There will be a shortage of skilled labour. This is a cycle and it can be easily broken by having the political will do so.

The district councils now have development grants that will come without any hiccups. What if the districts take it upon themselves to use the money to raise the salaries of teachers in their districts? This will be a very good use of public funds.

Education is a very important ingredient in improving lives and for that we need teachers. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes education as a legal right of every child. Yet education remains a privilege to many.

Education helps eradicate poverty and hunger, giving people the chance at better lives. This is one of the biggest reasons why parents strive to make their kids attend school as long as possible. It is also why nations work toward promoting easier access to education for both children and adults.

The nation needs to get its priorities in order. In the fairy tale, the Pied Piper of Hamelin, when the townsfolk refused to pay the piper what they had promised, the piper took with him all the children, never to be seen again.

Pay the teachers, otherwise, the problems we are seeing now with the workforce and literacy and numeracy will continue to prevail.