Education remains govt priority

Main Stories

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill, pictured, says K3.6 billion has been spent on free education over the past five years and the Government will continue to prioritise it when framing the national budget.
He said education would continue to be an important priority for his Government because he believed the children were the future builders of the nation.
O’Neill said since taking office in August 2011, his Government prioritised free education because they believed in education as the agent for change in overall growth of the nation and also in the improved standard of living of the people.
He said with the introduction of the policy, more than two million children were being given the opportunity each year to be in school, half of them being girls.
He said the rights of the children could not be continued to be denied due to the inability of parents to find school fees for their children.
“As a responsible Government, it has relieved the burdens of the people, particularly those in the rural areas who hardly have the opportunity to find K500 – K1000 for school fees for their children,” O’Neill said.
“I believe that it is the kids who will build this nation and the government introduced the tuition fee free education for our people. So far K3.6 billion, the largest allocation ever, has been made to education over the past five years.”
There are three components to the TFFE, the teaching and learning materials, the cash component and the infrastructure component.
O’Neill reiterated that his Government would continue to frame the budgets and prioritise education so long as he continued to remain in Government despite criticism that continued to be made by a few who did not understand the pain and suffering of parents in looking for school fees.
“The rights of our children cannot be denied despite the economic challenges the country is going through. We have delivered and by next year we will expand and by 2025, during the 50th anniversary of our country, we will be almost 12 years with the introduction of the free education policy.”