Governor hands down K398mil budget, parents spared school fees burden

SOUTHERN Highlands Governor William Powi recently handed down a provincial budget of K398 million in Mendi.
He said the provincial government framed a K400mil budget that consisted of K218mil in state grants and an internal revenue of K192mil.
He said the budget was framed around six priority areas and they included support for an education and technical vocational training rollout.
This included a K20.4mil school fee subsidy for elementary to grade 12, another K20mil for a skills training programme for grade 10 and 12 dropouts and K5mil funding for a TVET rollout in the five districts.
Other priority areas included the police empowerment programme, electrification rollout, K10mil potato farming and seed rollout, improved healthcare including medivac services, among others.
Powi said under the education sector, the provincial government would subsidise K20.4 million for all students in elementary to secondary school in the province.
He added that brushing aside rumours that the parents were going to pay school fees, the provincial government would shoulder the parents’ 37 per cent component in the national government’s new school fee subsidy scheme that had replaced the Tuition Fee Free policy.
He said the provincial government had allocated K20 million to support and sponsor grade 10 and 12 students dropouts from 2016-2019 to acquire technical training and skills while another K5 million was allocated for the establishment of five technical and vocational training colleges in the province.
Powi said another K10 million was appropriated for a potato rollout programme.