Governor dishes out K10m free fees

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Tuesday February 11th, 2014

 ENGA Governor Peter Ipatas announced the disbursement of K10 million to the schools in the province to meet students’ tuition fees last Friday.

The fund is part of the K34 million that the Government had allocated in this year’s national budget for students in Enga under its tuition-free policy.

The beneficiaries of the first batch of the funds include four secondary schools, 10 high schools, 116 primary, 30 community and 377 elementary schools in the province.

Ipatas told hundreds of people in Wabag, including parents and students, to take ownership of the education programmes in the province to achieve quality education.

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said during a recent visit to the province that the Government had selected Enga to pilot the change in the distribution of subsidy funds direct from the province instead of Waigani.

He said it was because of the province’s outstanding management of its homegrown education policy in the past 17 years. He said it was up to education authorities and parent to work together and implement the quality education policy.

“The K34 million that the Government has allocated to us is a lot of money,” he said.

“The challenge is now on the education authorities and the parents including school governing bodies to work hard to achieve quality education.”