The Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama led government has created history by making the biggest allocation to the Education Sector that will result in education to be made truly free for the people of the country in primary and secondary schools.
It also includes a new initiative for students intending to go to tertiary institutions.
A total of $541.5 million is budgeted for the Education Sector which is also the biggest allocation in the 2014 National Budget.
While announcing the National Budget, Commodore Bainimarama said no child will be left behind and no Fijian parent will ever go to bed again worrying about how they will meet their children’s school fees or any other fees.
From next year, no family will have to pay any tuition fees, textbook fees, building fees, or any other fee usually charged by schools from Year 1 to Year 8.
To fund this new initiative, the government has allocated $34 million.
The Prime Minister said schools will now receive $250 a year per child to cover the full cost of tuition.
This is a dramatic increase from the $30 per child that government currently spends to subsidize tuition fees.
This is an initiative that will benefit the parents and families of 136,000 primary school children.
For secondary schools, the government will provide $31.5 million for tuition fees.
This will benefit the parents and families of 66,000 secondary school students.
Commodore Bainimarama also said if a school wants to fundraise, it must first seek the approval of the Ministry of Education, and even if approval is given, no family is obligated to contribute.
Low interest government loans to any Fijian student who is accepted at one of the tertiary institutions in Fiji will also be provided from next year.
The Prime Minister said the Tertiary Education Loan Scheme or TELS will cover up to the full cost of tuition and will not have to be repaid until after a student has graduated and received employment.
Fijians from families that earn less than $25,000 a year will pay no interest on these loans.
Those from families that earn between $25,000 and $50,000 a year will pay an interest rate of 0.5 percent, those from families that earn between $50,000 and $100,000 will pay an interest rate of 1 percent, and those from families that earn more than $100,000 will pay an interest rate of 2 percent.
For the first time ever, the government has also allocated certain courses for which full tertiary scholarships will be granted to the top 600 school leavers.
Commodore Bainimarama said this will act as a powerful incentive for students to take their studies seriously.
Allowances will also be available to cover the cost of living expenses for students from lower income families.
This new program is available to all Fijians and will replace the current iTaukei, Multi-Ethnic and PSC scholarships.
Commodore Bainimarama said this means that every Fijian youth, no matter what their background or where they live, will have the same opportunity to attend university.
Those students who are currently on an iTaukei, Multi-Ethnic and or scholarship will not be affected.
$26 million will go to continue to support these programs.
$52.5 million has been allocated to the TELS program.
Story by: Fijivillage team
