Govt has done more harm to children’s education

 THE National Government through the Education Ministry and the Department of Education has become more obsessed with every toea given to schools under the freee educaiton policy.

It does not seem to realise that the obsession has had more detrimental effects to children’s education than it has enhanced.

Prior to the Free Education policy, school principals managed school funds totaling more than what the government is giving out to schools now, under the TFF policy. 

In all of these years we hardly heard complaints about school funds misuse by school principals. 

In fact, school principals had their books checked by school inspectors three times a year.

Now we see a new level of phobia of funds misuse in the government and ministry of education that has seen in recent years, in the guise of having school funds spent for real intended purposes, 40% of the TFF funds taken away from the schools and given to stationary companies to supply under the commodity component material to students, materials that just are not worth the money and are completely incompatible to students’ real needs.

Now they are taking away the infrastructure component and parking it to the District treasury. 

Compound this with the dribs and drabs method they are employing to remitting school funds, one gets to wonder why the government has all of a sudden called to question the ability and the integrity of people systematically appointed and entrusted to manage schools.

I wonder how the schools will ever get enough money to replace some of their more expensive equipment like school trucks, printing machines, stand by generators, dinghys etc.

In taking away so much from the school principals, are the authorities taking into account logistic and boarding expenses incurred by rural boarding schools that need cash on hand to fund?

Whatever happened to all the threats to school principals over the charging of project fees that the minister for education took pains to explain in the media in recent years? 

The Government should be admitting to all of us its short sightedness and poor policies than to introduce more questionable and cumbersome policies that do nothing towards promoting children’s education and development.

This government has done more harm to our children’s education in recent years than we have realised.

Manning Forepe

Lae