[Photo: Premila Kumar/ Twitter]

Village elders have been encouraged to talk to parents to ensure that children do go to school.

Education Minister Premila Kumar urged the villagers of Naivucini Village School in Naitasiri while distributing backpacks in partnership with FENC Fiji.

Kumar says there is no reason why a child should not be in school.

“We are getting reports from some schools that there are children who are not going to school. The parents are not sending the children to school. Now this should not be the case, because parents should not have any reason not to send their child to school.”

Kumar says they put a lot of emphasis on education, as through it a person can change their life.

The Education Minister says the government’s vision is to educate children so that the country has a knowledge-based society.

She stressed that the government allocates over $490 million to the education sector.

She adds that the government has provided $100,000 to FENC Fiji to identify children who need assistance.

FENC Fiji distributed a total of 221 backpacks to the children of Naivucini village yesterday.

FENC Fiji has been operational from 2009 to 2022, and they have assisted more than 25,000 needy children so far.

It was a joy to see the faces of our young ones light up at the backpack distribution by @FENC_Fiji at Naivucini village. Gone are the days when parents couldn’t afford to send children to school as @FijianGovt provides #free #education, bus fares and textbooks. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/Bw5umiORvr

— Premila Kumar (@PremilaKumarFj) November 16, 2022