![]() Morobe school principals and head teachers say the K13 million government tuition fee subsidy (GTFS) paid to the province is not enough to keep schools running. This concern was raised during a principals’ conference recently in Lae. The school heads expressed their concerns to the provincial education board (PEB) in order for it to bring the matter to the Education secretary Dr Uke Kombra, Minister Jimmy Uguro and the Education Department. Provincial education adviser Keith Tangui said their concern was based on the rise of prices in terms of goods and services. “The rise in the cost of goods and services has made the schools suffer a little bit, especially the boarding schools,” he said. “The points raised are valid and we will take them on board and respond to them.” PEB chairman Bob Aaron agreed that subsidies from the government would not be able to sustain the about 1,000 plus schools in the province.
“GTFS for last year was about K235,000 and when you look at a city school like Bumayong Secondary where you have about 1,650 students and divide the GTFS by this number of students, you will come up with K144. 40 per year,” he said. “And divided by 10 weeks (which is a term) is about K14.40. “And look at it in terms of a week, it’s about K2.40 a day, so what do you do with K2.40 when you have boarding students? “You talk about curriculum materials, you talk about operational costs, utility costs that all adds up. “The subsidy that is coming from the Government, is basically nothing and cannot sustain the schools and we feel sorry for our headmasters.” Aaron said the province had 362 primary schools and 30 high and secondary schools. Meanwhile, he appealed to the province’s 10 MPs to use some of their district funding to subsidise cost of operating schools. “It’s a responsibility that is not only on the shoulders of the education board, but is down to parents, the MPs and everyone too.” The National / PNG Education news Also read
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