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Subsidy confusion
By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
ABOUT 400 parents yesterday disrupted
classes for two hours at the Evadahana Top-Up Primary School in Port
Moresby to demand the refund of their children’s school fees.
Armed members of the police mobile squad had to be called in to disperse
them after they threatened and almost bashed up the deputy headmaster
Samuel Wala at around 9am. They also accused Mr Wala for withholding
their monies.
The parents were also not armed with any objects but shouted and
threatened the teachers.
They claimed that their monies should be refunded immediately because
the K100 million school fees subsidy that Prime Minister Sir Michael
Somare had approved would have by now reached the school.
However, Mr Wala told them that they have not received any information
from the Education Department about this subsidy.
“The subsidy that was reported in the media was only propaganda and only
announced as a political gimmick.
“I am now appealing to politicians not to make public announcements
about free education or school fees subsidy because we the wellbeing of
teachers would be jeopardized by such political propaganda.”
Mr Wala said the school had only sent a memo out on Tuesday to the
parents to come and collect their monies that they had overpaid in their
children’s school fees at the beginning of the academic year.
“However, our memo had been misinterpreted to read that we were now
refunding their children’s school fee as a result of the promised
subsidy.”
National Capital District Education division assistant secretary Henao
Nauna said he was informed of the incident at Evadahana school, but was
not aware that NCDC schools had received their share of the K50 million,
which was reportedly released by Treasury Department to the Education
Department last week.
“That subsidy was facilitated at the Education Department level and you
have to talk to the Education Secretary Dr Joseph Pagelio.”
Dr Pagelio was unavailable for comments when contacted.
Last month, Dr Pagelio said the first K50million of the K100 million
approved by the Somare Government as school subsidy, had already been
released by the Treasury Department.
He said the Education Department was processing the money to pay out to
schools.
He said the details of the policy on the subsidy and amount per school
would be published in the newspapers this month (June).
He had said that parents would be refunded any extra money schools had
collected after the respective schools received their money.
But this depended on the provinces and levels of school fees in each
province, he had said.
Early this year when Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare announced this
subsidy programme in Kundiawa in Simbu Province, it was described by
critics as a vote-buying gimmick in an election year.
 
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