Over 200,000 students get $200 as Back-to-School Support

The Ministry of Finance has paid $40.2 million to 200,760 students as part of the $200 Back-to-School Support payment.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad says the first round of payments is made to all eligible students enrolled from early childhood education to Year 12 in the upcoming 2024 school year.

He says parents and guardians of these ECE to Year 12 students can now access the $200 per child payment through their MPAiSA or MyCASH accounts and those in the maritime areas can obtain the funds from their nearest Post Fiji agency by showing their child’s student ID as proof of identity.

Professor Prasad further says the second round of payment will include around 8,200 applications which are currently on hold, for students yet to be enrolled in Year 13 as they await their Year 12 exam results.

He says this payment will be released once the exam results are out and students get enrolled in Year 13.

The Finance Minister says the $200 Back to School Support is an initiative of the Coalition government to assist parents and guardians in purchasing proper school uniforms, school bags, shoes, lunch boxes, stationery and other necessities for their children before school starts on 29th January.

He says similar support was also provided to over 223,000 students in the 2023 school year and parents and other stakeholders in the education sector had acknowledged the great impact and success of this noble initiative to assist our students.

Professor Prasad also says as we modernize government service delivery, digital payments have become a key feature of our payment system with almost 98 per cent of the Back to School Support payment made through MPAiSA or MyCASH and payment through these digital wallets being efficient, transparent and secure and funds can be either withdrawn or used directly at authorized retail outlets with QR codes.

He says to ensure the safety of their funds, people must not disclose their PIN or one-time password of their mobile wallets to anyone and not send money to any unknown person who may try to lure and trick them into stealing money.

The Ministry of Finance also acknowledge the Ministry of Education, all the heads of schools, teachers, school admin officers, students, parents and guardians for their hard work, due diligence and assistance with the entire application process.