By Sharlyne Eri – EMTV News, Lae
There has being a cut in the allocation of TFF funds to schools in Morobe Province. Education Program Advisor, Keith Jiram, says he is yet to get an explanation from the Education Department on the matter, in the meantime, he is appealing to parents to pay projects fees to keep schools running.
It’s the end of term 2 and secondary and vocational schools in Morobe Province are yet to receive their TFF funds – only primary and elementary schools have.
Education Program Advisor, Keith Jiram, says their funds are already in the system, however, it has been delayed due to the change of ministers in the department. However, Mr Jiram says there is another concern with TFF allocation for the Province.
“There has being a cut in TTF allocation for the province. I’ve being trying to get people in Moresby to explain the reasons for the cut but have not received any response yet,” Mr Jiram said.
Morobe’s Lae city is the second largest in the country with over 300 educational institutions. Huonville Primary School is one of the many feeling the effect of the cut in TFF allocations. Head teacher, Willie Vilakiva, says funds for terms 1 and 2 were enough to meet most of the school’s expenses.
“From some information, TFF per child is supposed to be K290, however, what we received does not add up according to our student population,” said Mr Vilakiva.
Mr Jiram, on the other hand, is appealing to schools to collect project fees from parents. He said with TFF issues, running of term 3 is likely to depend on this fees.
Most schools will agree that TFF funding for the first 2 terms had a lot of irregularities – they remain optimistic for term 3.
