Closed school charged extra to fix toilet

By HELEN TARAWA
THE Wardstrip Elementary School in Port Moresby charged each of its 1600 students a K20 project fees to improve its toilets last year.
Now the school has been forced to close because of the poor state of its sanitation facilities.
What has happened to the project fees collected?
Now the school wants to charge K100 project fees and parents are naturally not happy.
They want the National Capital District education division to look into the high project fees.
Some parents who gathered at the main primary school yesterday voiced their concern about last year’s charges and now the new ones. Joyce Ben, a former member of school board of management, said the project fees had increased this year.
Ben said parents were charged K20 for the toilet project last year but do not know what happened to the funds and the toilets remained a problem.
She said a meeting was held last week during which the proposed project was introduced and parents were expected to pay K100.
“A lot of us were not aware of the meeting; only a few parents attended and were informed of the increased project fees,” she said.
“For us parents K100 is a lot of money. Some of us have more than one child so it is difficult to find that kind of money.”
Another parent, Siambo Kurum, said for late enrolment she had to pay K100 for her child.
“There were varying fees for late enrolments, some paid K150 while others paid K200, I paid K100. At the moment we are confused because we’ve been asked to pay another K100 for project fees,” Kurum said.
Emily Pianda has two children at the elementary school and says it’s too expensive.
“I was not able to attend the parents’ meeting at that time but I ask that they reduce the project fees,” Pianda said. Blendina Songul said: “I’m not happy with the project fees because we have been told that the free education policy covers for all fees.
“Now we are being charged project fees, I don’t think my child will return to school because I don’t have the money to pay up,” Songul said.
Education division assistant secretary Sam Lora said projects in schools throughout NCD should be endorsed by the parents, board of management and the education division.
There are about 1600 students in the school and a K100 per student it would raise about K160,000.
The school closed last Wednesday because of sanitation problems for an indefinite period.