‘Bursars not supposed to handle cash’

THE mismanagement of money is the major reason why many schools have deteriorating infrastructure and other issues affecting their ability to provide quality education, a senior provincial education official says. Morobe acting education adviser Keith Tangui said many schools in the province experienced problems when funding was not handled by the appropriate people and spent within budget. Tangui’s comments came after some schools were found to have bursars handling school cheques or cash when it should be handled by managers, principals or head teachers as stated under the Public Finance Management Act. “Bursars are not allowed to keep any cash or cheques for the school,” he said.
“They only keep records, the income and expenditure and other financial matters.” Tangui said this was why some schools faced problems when bursars stepped in to take the lead in financial matters as well as keeping cheque books or cash and not the rightful officer such as the head teacher, manager or the principal.