New graduate teachers from the Lautoka Teachers College will be paid before they enter the classrooms.

About 150 new primary school teachers who are part of the replacement batch will be paid in advance.

In a statement, the Ministry of Education said this is an old policy to assist new teachers establish themselves.

The money is used to buy personal items and food supplies before moving to remote islands and rural schools where accessibility to supermarkets is non-existent.

Meanwhile, the graduates from the Fiji College of Advanced Education are not qualified for this assistance since they will be posted mostly in urban schools.

The government is negotiating for boats to take new teachers to their first postings and is therefore seeking assistance first from the Marine Department.