Save the Children Fiji has commended the new Government for taking swift steps to initiate a $50 million back-to-school support program as it is timely and is going to help many families who are feeling the impact of the global crisis.
They say the program is needed because as per their recent statistics, there are more than 3,000 children in primary and secondary education who are in need of school bag kits and stationery items.
CEO Shairana Ali is urging parents to liaise with their children’s schools and ensure they are applying for this assistance.
She says similar cash assistance programs have been widely implemented by Save the Children Fiji over the past two years, and they have witnessed the advantages such cash assistance programs have on families.
Ali says in almost all instances, cash provided by Save the Children was spent meeting children’s immediate needs and therefore, they have no doubt that parents will spend the recent assistance from the Government to meet their children’s needs.
The CEO says the Government has indicated that parents should receive priority, however, it is unclear at this time whether guardians are also eligible and from their data, they know that many children are financially supported by their grandparents, uncles, aunts, and siblings, and they frequently struggle to send the children in their care to school.
She says they are asking the Government to take this into consideration and open the assistance program to guardians.
The Ministry of Education says in the first instance, applications are open to parents only while applications for guardians will be open at a later date which will be announced in due course along with the amendments to the application form.
They say this has been done to prevent parents as well as guardians applying for the same child twice.
The Ministry says they are requesting guardians await official announcement of when they can start applying for this assistance.
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