Funding inconsistent: Teacher

A SECONDARY school principal in Wewak, East Sepik, is concerned about the inconsistent payment with the cash component of the tuition fee free (TFF) policy to his school.
Mercy Secondary School principal Alexander Marcus said the only all girls’ school had a lesser complement of TFF payments since 2018.
“The money is not coming,” he said.
“We are not getting what we are supposed to be getting.”
Marcus said with little to no TFF funds, the school had depended on project fees from parents.
“We should be getting 63 per cent of the cash component from the Government and 37 per cent from parents in a year but for us, it is the other way around,” he said.
Marcus said running a boarding school was expensive and not an easy task.
“We have the school mess to cater for, the accommodation facilities to maintain, security, electricity and other administrative operations that need funds to manage,” he said.”
Marcus said the school had plans to improve the food menu at the students’ mess, however, that had not eventuated due to a lack of funding. “Nothing much has changed with the menu and it’s important that we are able to serve healthy food in the student mess.”
Marcus said this inconsistency with TFF funds had forced the school’s administration over the years to look at other alternatives to continue its operations.