The Permanent Secretary for Education, Ms. Selina Kuruleca delivered her keynote address at the Women In School Leadership (WISL) Cohort 2 Graduation Ceremony 2024 at Holiday Inn, Suva.
While honouring the 30 women of the second cohort of the WISL program at this graduation ceremony, PS Kuruleca expressed her immense pride and thanked them for dedicating their lives to education.
The Permanent Secretary conveyed her heartfelt appreciation and sincere gratitude to the Australian Government for partnering with the Ministry of Education in supporting this program towards achieving our shared goal of gender equality in school leadership.
Ms Kuruleca stressed that throughout history, women have been the backbone of society, shaping families, and communities with their resilience, wisdom, and compassion. Yet, despite their undeniable contributions, women have often been underrepresented in leadership roles.
“I firmly believe that empowering women leaders is not about giving them power but is about removing the obstacles that prevent you from exercising that power. These obstacles are not just external, such as unequal opportunities or societal expectations, but internal as well, including self-doubt and the pressure to conform to traditional norms.”
In her closing remarks, PS Education stated that as we move forward, let us commit to being champions of women’s leadership, “Let us actively support the women around us—whether they are colleagues, friends, or family members—by encouraging their aspirations, celebrating their achievements, and advocating for their inclusion in all spaces of leadership.”
The 2024 Women In School Leadership Cohort 2 program covered adaptive leadership business case writing, communications, digital literacy, personal branding, leadership competency assessments, gender equality, disability and social inclusion, ministry policies and procedures, assets and infrastructure, financial management of the education grant, child protection and the national curriculum framework.
