The Education Ministry has confirmed that there are around 85, 000 students taking advantage of the government subsidized blue cards.

Permanent Secretary Alison Burchell says they subsidized these students to ensure there is no barriers for these vulnerable families in accessing education.

Burchell adds currently there are 205,000 blue cards in circulation.

“In the past two months there have been distinct top ups on blue cards of over 16,000. The value of that top up is about $220,000.”

The Education Ministry in this financial year received an allocation of $20m in their budget for transport assistance.