Agni Deo Singh

Agni Deo Singh is a Fiji Indian teacher, who has risen through the ranks of the Fiji Teachers Union (FTU) to become its general secretary. He was also elected to the House of Representatives in 2006. Singh was born in rural Macuata in Vanua Levu, the second largest island in the Fiji group. After teacher training, he taught at Kadavu and Nausori. While teaching at Nausori he completed Diploma in Education, then did a Certificate in Non Formal Education as an external student of the University of the South Pacific. He completed his degree through summer schools.

In 1980, he became the secretary of the Rewa branch of the FTU and in 1984, became the chairman of the branch. In 1987, he became the branch representative to attend national executive meetings and in 1992 became the assistant general secretary. In 1999, following the election of the incumbent, Pratap Chand to Parliament, he became the general secretary of the FTU.

He was elected to Parliament following the general election in May 2006 on the Fiji Labour Party ticket from Macuata East Open Constituency but following the 5 December 2006 military coup, he returned to his post in the trade union.

On 14 April 2007, Singh was re-elected to the post of General Secretrary of the Fiji Teachers Union although majority of teachers were against him, thousands having signed petitions.

Furthermore, Mr. Singh being the General Secretary of the Fiji Teacher's Union was against the teachers during both the Retirement Age Discussions and also when a pay cut was proposed for civil servants. The unions role is to fight for workers rights with employers but in this case the trade unionist, Mr. Singh fought against those covered by the umbrella body of the FTU and because of this many teachers and other civil servants lost their jobs. How he was re-elected when the majority was against him is still unclear.