Fiji announces school support for students from low-income families

SUVA: In his first televised address to the nation after becoming Fiji's Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka on Tuesday announced back-to-school support of $91 per child assistance to all those earning a combined annual income of $22,735 or less.

This is being done to ensure that children return to school without difficulty, Xinhua news agency quoted the Prime Minister as saying.

He added that this assistance is due to the hardship that many families are facing due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the contraction of the Fijian economy whereby a lot of people have lost their jobs.

According to Rabuka, the assistance will be funded via the existing budget.

They have allocated $22.7 million for this assistance through the redeployment of funds within the current budget, Rabuka added.

The Fijian government also assured that it will continue to provide free education and transport assistance to all eligible students as has been the practice, and the transports will be available to take students to school when the new school term begins on February 6 this year.

Recently, the new coalition government has also announced the change from four school term structure to three school terms this year.

Fiji is a South Pacific island nation with a population of around 900,000.

Its current poverty rate stands at 24.1 per cent.