Faith Based Organizations await data from Education Ministry to assist students with lunch and bus fare

Faith Based Organizations are awaiting data from the Ministry of Education on the number of students that need assistance in terms of bus fare and lunch.

Methodist Church in Fiji Secretary for Education, Waisake Ravatu says the ministry wanted to form a partnership to see to how they, as a faith based group intend to help students who are facing hardships as their parents are on reduced hours or do not have a job.

Ravatu says once they get that data from the ministry as to who all will need help in bus fare and lunch, and they will work out strategies on how they will help the students.

He says they appreciate what the Ministry has done in trying to help these students.

Meanwhile the Fiji Muslim League President Hafiz-Ud-Dean Khan says the meeting with the ministry which was held today was to discuss the possibility of assisting students with lunch which was something which they are already doing.

Khan says they are now gearing up to assist a bigger number of students who will be resuming school from Monday.

Khan says they are rolling out assistance for needy students outside of their Zakaat Program in the form of lunch.

These students come from families who were adversely impacted by the Tropical Cyclone Harold and the COVID-19 Pandemic.

More than 150,000 people are directly or indirectly affected by the drastic drop in visitor arrivals as a result of the global pandemic.