[Source: Fiji Government/ Facebook]

The cabinet has approved the reinstatement of school chaplain positions in government schools.

It says funding for these positions will be made available through the Ministry of Education.

Cabinet also agreed that chaplains in non-government schools be funded on a cost sharing basis from the Free Education Grant.

A school chaplain refers to a cleric such as minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, pundit or imam or a lay representative of a religious body, attached to a school.

School chaplains will be guided by the school chaplaincy policy.

The cabinet says the reinstatement of school chaplains is part of the government’s commitment to mitigate the escalating social problems amongst young people in the country.