District releases tuition fees for its students

 THE Abau district administration of Central has released more than K230,000 in school fees to support its students studying at higher learning institutions in the country. 

Forty-nine students from the three local level governments – Aroma, Amazon Bay and Cloudy Bay – qualified for the sponsorship. 

Five of them received their cheques from local MP and Public Service Minister Sir Puka Temu at a media conference in Port Moresby yesterday. 

The five were Simon Mana (Institute of Business Studies), Elizabeth William (University of PNG), Joyce Lelesi (International Training Institute), Kokah Koru (Pacific Adventist University) and Kone Noara (Works Institute of Technology). 

The students received the cheques on their fellow students’ behalf who are studying at the same institutions. 

Sir Puka said the Joint District Planning and Budget Priority Committee (JDP&BPC) made the decision to set aside money to support their students attending tertiary  education institutions.

He said the district administration decided to allocate K250,000 to sponsor students from the electorate. 

He urged students to study hard so that Abau contributed quality human resource to the country. 

“I’m proud to say that the human resource quality from Abau is very good, both before and after independence.

“Abau’s human resource is contributing very well in the private and public sectors and to maintain that standard, the Abau JDP&BPC has made a very important decision that every year we will put in K250,000 to sponsor our students.”

Sir Puka said the scheme covered 13 to 15 students per LLG.

He said education was very important and his administration was taking the cue from the prime minister who had declared education a number one priority for the Government. 

“The governor subsidises K2,000 per student from Central attending tertiary institutions,” Sir Puka said. 

“Where his subsidy ends, the Abau JDP&BPC will pay the rest for every Abau student.”

Sir Puka said this meant that Abau students in higher learning institutions would be fully subsidised, adding that the JDP&BPC was deliberate in its decision to extend the tertiary education subsidy to encourage more students from Abau to obtain university level education.