To prevent any disappointment, parents and guardians are encouraged to ensure they accurately complete the $200 Back To School Support application forms before submitting them.

This call comes in response to an announcement made by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Biman Prasad, regarding the commencement of applications for this assistance, which will open on November 6, and close on December 22.

Budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year has allocated $45 million for this initiative. It is expected to benefit more than 220,000 students. The Minister for Education, Aseri Radrodro, acknowledged that concerns and questions have surfaced about the application process, and emphasises the importance of caution from parents and guardians.

“Parents and guardians should complete the forms accurately and submit them to the child’s school as soon as possible. This is to facilitate the timely and accurate processing of applications,” Mr Radrodro said.

“We encourage parents and guardians to fill in the form accurately, particularly the mode of payment, phone numbers and transmit mail office (TMO) addresses.”

He called on guardians and parents and heads of schools to clarify all information.

“In the past, the Ministry of Education received a lot of enquiries from parents and guardians because application forms were not correctly filled.”

Mr Prasad echoed Mr Radrodro’s concerns saying it was important for parents and guardians to verify details.

Mr Prasad echoed the sentiment.

“We had some issues about details before. If the phone numbers are wrong, the verification process will be long, “Mr Prasad said.

“This year, some students initially missed out until they corrected the information, so we are urging the parents and guardians to make sure the information is correct. If they give the wrong telephone number and it’s registered under another person’s name, the money could go there because the phone number should be registered to M-PAiSA and MyCash to receive the funds. “Parents and guardians will have seven weeks. They will have more than two weeks after the payment is made to prepare their children for the 2024 school year which will start on January 29, 2024.” The Ministry of Finance is scheduled to roll out payments from January 10, 2024, and parents have been urged to spend it on their children’s school needs.

What is required? 

The completed application forms will need to be submitted to the schools for verification and updating on the Fiji Education Management Information System (FEMIS). Separate applications forms must be filled for each student.

Families with children who currently receive subsidised transportation assistance do not have to fill in the Income Verification section of the application because they have already been assessed.

All families earning below 50000 annually and whose children don’t currently receive transportation assistance will have to apply by filling in the full Back To School support application form which has to verified and signed by either of the following:

School Principal, Head Teacher, Education Officer, JP, Commissioner of Oaths, Labour Officer, Turaga ni Koro, Mata ni Tikina, Advisory Councillor, Roko Tui or Provincial Administrators.

Apart from this the Principal Applicant also has to sign a section for the Statutory Declaration to confirm that the information provided is correct. There is no need to attach a separate form as it is part of the application.

Mode of payment

Like the previous Back To School support payment, all payments will be done through Vodafone M-PAiSA or Digicel MyCash platforms while students in the Maritime islands will have theirs sent to the Post Office or agency closest to them through TMO.

Who can apply? 

Students currently enrolled in Early Childhood Education (ECE) to those in Year 12 can submit their applications at their current school unless they are changing schools.

Year 12 students who intend to progress to Year 13 but this will only be confirmed once examination results are released.

Students entering ECE in 2024, will need to have their parents and guardians enrol them first before they can apply for the Back-To-School Support.

Who cannot?

Students currently enrolled in Year 13 are not eligible for assistance even if they have five weeks of school left in the term. Heads of schools will not accept applications from them because they have already received the allocation for the year.

Feedback: aralai.vosayaco@fijisun.com.fj