Dept: Do not overcharge on uniforms

 SCHOOLS charging project fees for uniforms must not overcharge but charge according to uniform prices, acting Education Secretary Dr Uke Kombra says.

The executive officer of the Jiwaka provincial education board, Rex Kupil said he was aware of at least one school charging project fees and had advised the principal to refund parents’ money collected.

Fatima Secondary School in Jiwaka has been charging parents K500 for project fees – K200 for school uniforms and K300 project fees.

“They will pay the balance, that’s K300 only because K200 is for the school uniforms and parents have to meet that,” Kupil said.

He had advised the school principal at a meeting last Tuesday that they should not be charging any project fees but uniform fees alone.

He was not sure of exactly how much the school owed to parents for refunds but he said the school was given till next week to reimburse the money.  

Anditali High School and Monokam Community School in Enga were also collecting K250 project fees from parents. 

Anditali also charged an additional K10 for every day a student was absent, according to a concerned parent.

Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas said he had already announced that education was free and no school in his province was to charge project fees.

Kombra said schools charging fees for uniforms must charge accordingly and not over charge parents.