Bugandi Secondary School running on tight budget

By LEONNIE WAYANG-SEVUA
BUGANDI Secondary School in Lae, Morobe, is only spending money in priority areas because it has yet to receive its fee-free subsidy, a senior staff member said yesterday.
As students from secondary and national high schools throughout the country sat for their Grade 12 National Written Expression examinations yesterday, many administrative staff at the school were concerned over the disbursement of subsidies for the second half of the school year.
The senior Bugandi staff member who did not want to be named said the immediate way out of the school’s financial woes was to cut back on expenses as they waited for the Education Department to pay up. “It is not an easy task for the government to give out large sums of money like that as there are procedures that have to be followed,” the staff member said.
The school has had to finance its operations with project fees paid by parents.
But that may not be enough if fee-free subsidy money under the government’s free education policy did not reach the school on time.
The administration said it had asked the school’s creditors to give them time for money owed.
The staff said payments would be made as soon as the subsidies were deposited into the school account.
He said he did not want to play the blame game but education officials had to understand the magnitude of the problems schools faced.