Transcript
PENISIMANA FIFITA: We have lost 15 school days because of the hurricane. We have a programme, a syllabus to be covered and because of this situation I have consulted senior officers in my ministry, they agree, and also I have consulted the Parent Teachers Association of Tonga High school and Tonga College and they agreed to stop sports this year
DON WISEMAN: And you are saying, what, no sport until the end of the year?
PF: Yeah, yeah we are not going to have sport and they have agreed that we have to cover the syllabus for this year.
DW: Isn't physical education part of the syllabus?
PF: It is. We have movement and sport in our syllabus but we have looked at it from many angles. So we made the decision we are not going to have sport. Because sport as you understand is a physical activity. Say, for example, the top in any sport it's only about 13 years, or about 14 years, but the academic, whatever you get, you go with it to the grave.
DW: The letter that was circulating last week made references to how it was inappropriate for women of girls to be involved in rugby and boxing. So what do you say about that?
PF: Remember you are talking from New Zealand. The environment and culture is different from us here in Tonga. So you are talking from a different culture to a different culture. Here is what we have looked at. Only the girls at Tonga High School are not permitted to play rugby and also to engage in boxing. You know that there are some female parts - I think I don't have to go on. That is our decision.
DW: So that is a permanent thing then in terms of the ban at Tonga High School on women playing rugby or being involved in boxing.
PF: The other sports they can do it.
DW: But they can't do it this year.
PF: No. Maybe sometime society will accept our girls to be in the rugby and boxing, but at the moment, remember you are talking from a different culture and we are in a different culture.
DW: There have been a lot of people, a lot of Tongans, a lot of Tonga women who have expressed a lot of concern about this policy.
PF: Oh yes, but see in a Tongan household I am the father, and I am the one who makes the decision and whatever I see [indistinct] for my girls, then I will do it. And if there is something I think is not good for my girls I have to stop it. There is a Ministry of Education and I am the father of the ministry, then I am the father of the girls at Tonga High School. So what I look at, this is what should be done.
DW: Yet your leader, 'Akilisi Pohiva, said at the weekend, Friday, sport is good for the health and the well-being of the people and his government, like previous governments, actively encourages the participation of every Tongan student in all sports without discrimination. So what, you are defying your leader?
PF: I agree with you but because of this situation as I have talked to you before, we have wasted some days in our -- we have to cover our curriculum.
DW: Yes. Well that is a separate issue. The thing is I think his reference there is to this permanent ban on girls playing rugby or being involved in boxing.
PF: You understand that the physical strength of the female is different from the physical strength of the boys.
DW: Are you a physician? Women are playing rugby across the world aren't they?
PF: Yeah that is the world, remember this is Tongan society. We have our culture. We have our mandate for our girls. As I have told you the physical strength of the boys is different. So if a girl playing rugby has a spinal cord [injury] are you going to take her to the hospital for treatment and pay for all the expenses? I am asking you?
Dw: Why would that be any different from a boy?
PF: I have told you that the physical strength of a boy is different from the physical strength of a girl.
DW: You will continue to defy the Prime Minister when he says there should not be any discrimination in sports.
PF: Yeah. I do respect whatever he directs I will do it but this is, what I have told you, what the Ministry is thinking of. I am going to submit a paper tomorrow [Wednesday 28th March], if we have a Cabinet [meeting] and explain to the Prime Minister and the cabinet ministers.
