Schools told to spend wisely
Education Secretary, Dr Uke Kombra
The Education Department has called on schools to budget wisely during this “difficult financial times” amid claims schools have been ordering parents to pay a minimum project fee to operate due to slow subsidy payment.
“The fees that we are giving are sufficient as per budget and the funds can be well managed and they can be able to sustain the cost of running the schools,” says Education Secretary De Uke Kombra.
He said the budget allocation for all schools in PNG for this year is K6.02 million for which K150 million is allocated on a quarterly basis for each school term.
“If you divide these up into four terms we plan to receive and also expend K150 million a term,” he said.
Dr Kombra said the department has so far received the full K150 million for term 1 which it has been disbursed to all schools and has also received to date K130 million for term 2 for which K110 million has been disbursed and K20 million is yet to be released.
“We have released the K110 million as of Monday, July 9, with the last payment of K15 million made to all school accounts and we have another K20 million to go and are also expecting another K20 million before we make the upfront payment for term two,” he said.
But reports have come from parents complaining that they have had to pay a minimum project fee to schools because subsidies were slow and that the schools needed money to run.
Coming clear on delays of funding, Dr Kombra said: “As we are well aware, the financial situation affects every department in terms of budget which then affects the release of funds to fund all the programs.”
He said due to the delays, “these challenges should make schools take extra-care to see that the limited funds received for the periods are well managed and spent”.
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