Banks receive K236m for school subsidies

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by SHIRLYN BELDEN
FINANCE and acting Education Minister James Marape handed the first component of the government’s  tuition-fee subsidy for the year to banks so they can be allocated to schools immediately.
About 7,260 schools out of the 12,000 confirmed schools would share the money and it should be in their nominated accounts by next week, the minister said in Port Moresby yesterday.
A total of K236 million was given in cheques to the Bank South Pacific, ANZ Bank and Westpac Bank.
Marape said the money would benefit about 1.4 million pupils from elementary to secondary schools plus vocational government institutions.
A breakdown of the money showed: 
l    BSP – K211.29 million for 6,908 schools; 
l    ANZ – K9.8 million for 205 schools; and
l    Westpac – K15.2 million for 147 schools.
Marape congratulated the education secretary Luke Taita and his staff and said the government was proud to see the implementation of the policy progressing well.
About 1.4 million students in the country will benefit from this money.
Marape said other schools would get their share in the next component which was scheduled to roll out by next month. 
He urged the schools to use the money correctly and transparently.