PARENTS do not need to send their children as young as four years old to school for early education.
This was confirmed by acting permanent secretary for the Education Ministry Kelera Taloga as they work on assisting kindergarten students with fees from term two.
Mrs Taloga said the ministry defined kindergarten as the preparatory year for Year One, and it was only for five year olds.
“For kindies, we’re working towards that. By term two, they are assisted by fees, $50 per child, but that needs to be taken into consideration because some private kindergarten charge more than $50,” she said. “The assistance that is coming from Government is $50 per child for school fees.”
She said this was standard for all registered kindergartens around the country, which is more than the 735 primary schools.
“Numbers is always our issue. For us in Fiji, we’re on about wanting to educate our children but again these are five-year-olds, we have to limit the age in the kindergartens, and we know there are some four-year-olds.
The Government had announced the inclusion of free tuition fees for Early Childhood Education from the second term.
