The Ministry of Finance has paid $40.2 million to 200,760 students as part of the $200 Back-to-School Support payment.
This first round of payment is made to all eligible students enrolled from early childhood education (ECE) to Year-12 in the upcoming 2024 school year. 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.
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. This payment would be released once the exam results are out and students get enrolled in Year-13.
The $200 Back-to-School Support is an initiative of the Coalition Government to assist parents and guardians purchase proper school uniforms, school bags, shoes, lunch boxes, stationery and other necessities for their children before school starts on 29 January 2024.
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.
As we modernise Government service delivery, digital payments have become a key feature of our payment system with almost 98 percent of the Back-to-School Support payment made through MPAiSA or MyCASH.
Payment through these digital wallets is efficient, transparent and secure and funds can be either withdrawn or used directly at authorized retail outlets with QR codes. However, to ensure the safety of your funds, please do not disclose your PIN or one-time-password of your mobile wallets to anyone and do not send money to any unknown person who may try to lure and trick you into stealing your money.
The Ministry of Finance would like to thank 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.
I wish success to all our students gearing up for the 2024 school year.
-Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance
Hon. Professor Biman Prasad