Free education policy doing more harm than good

 THE National Government through the Ministry and the Department of Education has become more obsessed with every toea given to schools that it does not seem to realise that the obsession has had more detrimental effects to children’s education than it has enhanced.

Prior to the Free Education policy, school principals managed school funds totaling more than what the government is giving out to schools now, under the TFF policy. 

In all of these years we hardly heard complaints about school funds misuse by school principals and  boards.

In fact, school principals had their books checked by school inspectors three times a year.

Now we see a new level of phobia of funds misuse in the government and ministry of education that has seen in recent years,.

This has come about in the guise of having school funds spent for real intended purposes, 40% of the TFF funds taken away from the schools and given to stationary companies to supply under the commodity component material to students, materials that just are not worth the money and are completely incompatible to students’ real needs.

Now they are taking away the infrastructure component and parking it to the district treasury. 

Compound this with the dribs and drabs method they are employing to remitting school funds.

 One gets to wonder why the government has all of a sudden called to question the ability and the integrity of people systematically appointed and entrusted to manage schools.

I wonder how the schools will ever get enough money to replace some of their more expensive equipment like school trucks, printing machines, stand by generators, dinghys etc.

The Government should be admitting to all of us its short sightedness and poor policies than to introduce more questionable and cumbersome policies that do nothing towards promoting children’s education and development.

This government has done more harm to our children’s education in recent years than we have realised.

Manning Forepe,

Lae