The Education Ministry stressed that education grants will only be released when the school managements hand in their audit reports.
Permanent Secretary for Education, Doctor Brij Lal said all schools have to provide reports on how tax dollars allocated to them has been spent before the grants are given.
He said delays in the payment of the grants to schools come when the reports are not submitted.
Doctor Lal has also made it clear that no school should be demanding for any types of levies or fees for enrolment or re-enrolment of students to primary and secondary schools next year.
He said no parent should be charged any fees.
He said any school taking this step apart from the private schools, will be taken to task.
Meanwhile the treasurer of Yat Sen School has asked the Government to ensure that funds flow smoothly to the schools instead of schools chasing after the money.
Francis Chung who has been with Yat Sen School for the past 30 years raised the concern at the Fiji Australia Business Council Post Forum Budget yesterday.
Permanent Secretary for Finance, Filimoni Waqabaca said the Finance Ministry will ensure that grants are given on time.
Primary schools will receive $250 a year per child to cover the full cost of tuition.
This is a dramatic increase from the $30 per child that Government currently spends to subsidise tuition fees.
Forms 3 and 4 will attract a government tuition payment of $440 per student instead of the current $290, Forms 5 and 6 will attract a payment of $485 per student instead of the current $320, and Form 7 will attract a payment of $610 per student instead of the current $370.
It has been made clear that if a school wants to fundraise it must first seek the approval of the Ministry of Education, and even if approval is given, no family is obligated to contribute.
Story by: Vijay Narayan
Feature
Education grants will only be released when school hand in audit reports
