Govt to pay K17mil to university

THE Government will pay the K17 million it owes the University Of Papua New Guinea this year, says Higher Education Minister Pila Niningi.
He said yesterday that the Government was aware of its obligations in regards to supporting the education system.
However, he said the university needed to understand the current economic situation the country was in.
“They must accept the conditions we are in. It’s not that we have left them out. We will look for the money as the year progresses,” he said.
“We have given them some money (K51 million).
“We want to assure that Government will pay this K17 million outstanding before the end of this year.
“We want students to study well this year. We are monitoring all government institutions and will assist where possible.”
UPNG had recently released its new fee structure which showed massive increases by as much as 200 per cent because it said the the Government had not allocated enough in the 2018 national Budget to meet the university’s requirements.
After two groups of students aired their concerns last week that most would not be able to afford the new fees, Niningi and Prime Minister Peter O’Neill discussed the matter with the UPNG management.
They decided to put on hold the increase and students pay the same fees as they paid last year.