Funding to be probed

By DOROTHY MARK
A total of 390 schools in Madang not receiving free tuition fee will be investigated  Education Secretary Dr Uke Kombra says.
Kombra was in Madang on Saturday to discuss with provincial administrator Daniel Aloi, education director Moses Sariki and other executives why such a large number of schools on the education department’s TFF distribution list were not receiving their share of TFF.  He said of the 13,600 schools listed on the department’s registry only 10,600 were receiving the TFF but 3000 were missing out.
Kombra said 705 schools in Madang were receiving their TFFs but 390 had missed out and required proper investigation.
Kombra said some teachers of schools included in the 390 were on payroll.
“We should know if those schools really exist or not registered or registered but not operating.
“We need to properly monitor those schools and know their real status,” he said.
“Three hundred and ninety is a very big number, so we really need to look into this.”
It is up to Sariki and Aloi to report the findings of the investigation to Kombra and the Education Department.
Kombra said the Australian government had committed K7 million to fund training of head teachers of schools around the country in financial management to help them to better manage the TTFs given to their schools and other funds the schools had.
He said K3.4 million TFF was  paid to high and secondary schools last week for term one.
Kombra said Flexible Open Distance Education in Madang also needed to submit its annual activity plan to get its K300,000 government subsidy.
He said schools charging project fees will also be investigated.