Control of School in Fiji Returned to Church
1 December 2019 | Control of Vatuvonu Adventist High School in Fiji has been returned to the Adventist denomination after a ruling by the High Court of Fiji on November 22.
High Court Judge A L B Brito-Mutunayagam denied a bid by the Fijian government’s Ministry of Education to take control of the school.
The judge also ordered that the appointment of a principal by the Ministry of Education must be someone “acceptable to the Church.”
“It’s a good victory,” said Fiji Mission general secretary Pastor Joe Talemaitoga, according to Adventist Record, the official news magazine of the Adventist Church in the South Pacific. “We praise God for the court’s decision and declaration.”
Government proceedings against the school started on April 15 of this year and prevented the Adventist denomination from running the school or appointing staff.
Talemaitoga stated that the Mission Executive Committee would meet early this month to discuss the future direction of the school, which is currently closed for a holiday season that started November 22 and will run until January 13, 2020.
According to the denomination’s Office of Archives, Statistics and Research, there were 166 Adventist churches and 26,558 members in the Fiji Mission as of June 30, 2018.
