The Foundation for the Education of Needy Children has revealed that around 16,000 children aged between five and 14 years do not attend school.
Around 3,000 drop out prematurely, that is within four years of primary schooling and only 49 per cent manage to complete their secondary school education.
The statistics were outlined in ‘Seeds of Hope’ which is a documentary produced by FENC Fiji with a gripping insight on the factors operating to keep families trapped in poverty.
Shalendra Lingam, once a carpenter fell 20 feet, broke a leg, forehead and landed in the clutches of debilitating poverty.
In the documentary Lingam said he believes education was the way out for his three children but he could barely cope with feeding them let alone sending them to school.
He said: “If my life is in order I wouldn’t be pleading with you.”
“If you seek knowledge it will be yours and no one can steal it from you.”
Displaced farmer Indra Nand from Bua, who now lives in a squatter settlement in Suva, said he could only put two meals on the table for his family.
Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama pledged to ensure that poor children were not excluded from participating in society.
“We of late introduced subsidized bus fares, food voucher programs and free school text books,” he said.
“We will continue to invest in education and our children, our future.”
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