Primary schools in the Northern Division are expected to receive their free textbooks in the coming week as part of Government's free text book programme.
The Education Ministry said the free text book exercise is rolling ahead of schedule, as they had earlier anticipated the exercise to be completed by 2011 for primary schools.
Education Minister Filipe Bole said tomorrow morning textbooks will be shipped in two container trucks to Nabouwalu, after which the trucks will head for Labasa and Savusavu.
He adds the truck that heads for Savusavu will unload textbooks for Cakaudrove schools, while the Labasa one will unload textbooks for Macuata schools.
Bole said head teachers of primary schools in Vanua Levu can collect their textbooks from their respective District Education Office by Tuesday 26th January.
The Western Division schools are expected to receive their textbooks by next week, and the Ministry is targeting rural and remote school's first.
To date schools in the Eastern Division, in Lau, Kadavu, Lomaiviti and Rotuma have all been supplied with their textbooks.
We hope that all parents will abide by schools' preferred traders.
These are the sentiments of the Education Minister Filipe Bole who said this not only lightens their burden in the search of uniforms and school supplies, but more importantly, it is one way of maintaining standards in schools.
Bole said they support schools striving to instill uniformity, adding that schools may recommend traders, which supply uniforms, school stationery and other educational materials.
He said it must be noted that schools are institutions which have rules that bind the school, therefore there has to be consistency and uniformity in what every child in a school needs to have.
The Consumer Council of Fiji had earlier warned schools not to instruct students and parents to buy uniforms, shoes and stationery from certain business only, as exclusive dealings is prohibited under the Fair Trading Decree.
The Consumer Council of Fiji is expected to comment later.
