Teachers recruitment to commence next month

Education Minister Doctor Mahendra Reddy says 80 new primary schools teachers will be recruited in August and September this year.

Doctor Reddy says the other 120 new primary school teachers and 50 secondary school teachers will be recruited next year.

The Education Ministry has allocated $5.6 million in the 2017/2018 National Budget to recruit new teachers for non-government primary and secondary schools that require teaching capacity.

Teachers’ salaries will also increase by 14.3% while school heads will get a salary increase of 13.8%.

The Ministry of Education has been allocated a total budget of $490.1 million.

As part of Education announcements in the budget, there is also good news for students who want to study under TELS.

The total allocation for Tertiary Education Loans Scheme is $196.4 million with an increase of $81.1 million compared to last year.

Board Chair, Dixon Seeto says the increment and initiatives announced for the National Toppers Scheme and the Tertiary Education Loans Scheme is a great relief to the parents and students.

The new initiatives will allow students to repeat units and change their programme of study but they can only repeat their unit once.

$18.3 million is allocated to introduce incidental and book allowances for TELS students at $1,000 per annum or at least $500 per semester or $333 per trimester.

Allowances will be paid to TELS students during semester breaks so students enrolled in semester based courses will now receive an allowance of $6,600 per year or $3,000 per semester.

Students under TELS in technical colleges will now receive allowance payments.

The government has also allocated $9.2 million for students who have passed Year 12 and therefore meet the minimum requirements for certain engineering courses at FNU to also access TELS.