Government plan for study loan scheme hailed

University of PNG Jiwaka Students’ Union president Peter Bari has urged the Government to implement the proposed student loan scheme next year.
Bari’s response comes after Prime Minister Peter O’Neill told parliament on Tuesday that Government had plans to introduce a student loan scheme to help students who could not afford fees in tertiary institutions.
O’Neill said the scheme could be modelled on what the Australian Federal Government had for its university students.
“This is a brilliant idea by the Government,” Bari told The National.
“This news is a relief to the bulk of the parents living in remote parts of the country and have been crippled by school fee hardships for so long.
“This country must produce a lot of university graduates because they are the cream of the nation.”
Bari in the meantime urged the Government to help students sponsored under the Tertiary Education Scholarship Assistance Scheme (Tesas) .
He explained that the Tesas component for last year was not paid by the Government and students were asked by the UPNG administration to settle the outstanding payments with this year’s fees before they registered.
UPNG students last month raised their concern after the university council increased fees for 2018 – some by nearly 200 per cent over what they paid last year.