Minister for Education Rosy Akbar says the reason for increasing the threshold for qualifying for TELS from 200 to 250 marks is to encourage students to work harder and increase the quality of education.
While delivering her response to the 2020/2021 National Budget, Akbar says 16,661 students are currently studying under the TELS program while 2,525 students are studying under the National Toppers Scheme.
She says the government has allocated $35.5 million for the Toppers Scheme while $161.1 million has been set aside for the TELS program.
Akbar says the National Toppers Scheme has always addressed areas of need and this will continue however these will be subjected to revision depending on the COVID-19 situation and how it develops both locally and internationally.
While responding to Opposition Leader Sitiveni Rabuka equating the reduction of the budget for the Ministry of Education to the reduction on the importance of education, Akbar reminded Rabuka that the FijiFirst government has educated more children than his government or any other government ever has.
