The Secretary for Education, Dr. Uke Kombra, announced that the government will do final payments of TFF funds at the start of the school year.
He said that calculations and all necessary arrangements had already been done to release the funds in 2019, but were delayed until February of this year because by then the schools were closing off for the holidays.
“There concerns of the funds being misused”, he said.
A total calculation about K95 million and the department hopes to have payments in by next week.
This will be the final payment under the Tuition Free fee Policy.
The secretary urged that all school boards and their administrative personnel must ensure unnecessary debts with service providers are avoided at the start of this academic year.
He also added that the Education department is working on curriculums they consider important for students to learn.
These subjects being: Christian Citizenship & Values Education (CCVE), Information Communication Technology (ICT) AND Financial Literacy.
CCVE was rolled out on 2017 and is expected to be thought in every primary and secondary schools at the end of this year.
ICT is basically to enable students to be more informed and efficient with the use of technology and Financial Literacy is so students will learn how to save up and budget.
The Secretary said the government this year is more focused on education, and hopes to have good cooperation from teachers and parents.
He added that teachers will be dealt with accordingly if not performing to standard and encourage parents to report any teacher that slacks on the job.
“Public servants are paid to do their jobs”, he said.
by Natasha Ovoi, EMTV News Cadet, Port Moresby
