Schools which had not submitted their audited financial statements and bank statements as of August 31, 2020, will not directly receive any grant from the Ministry of Education.

This was revealed by Minister for Education Rosy Akbar in Parliament yesterday.

As of Term One this year, 706 out of 735 primary schools were compliant and had received grants, while 171 out of 172 secondary schools were complaint.

Ms Akbar said schools would not receive the grant if the ministry finds any form of abuse, unnecessary expenditure and non-compliance of reporting deadlines, such as non-submission of audited financial statements, not updated spending details or class audits not conducted.

“All the payment processes for the particular school will be controlled by the ministry for that term until the school is compliant,” Ms Akbar said.

“The school will be required to submit payment vouchers with all supporting documents and the ministry will process the payment on behalf of the school after compliance checks.”

She said money not utilised become savings; this can accumulate over the years and determine the amount the schools receive the following terms.

In the last financial year, a total of 151,692 primary school students and 64,019 secondary school students were assisted through the free education scheme, which makes up 24 per cent of Fiji’s population.

A separate allocation is given for textbooks. For schools in the rural and maritime areas, the ministry provides boats and fuel.

The free education budget for the current fiscal year is $60.7 million – $31.5m for primary schools and $29.2 million for secondary schools.

Edited by Jonathan Bryce

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