K10 million set for fees

SOUTHERN Highlands Governor William Powi is putting aside K10 million for students from elementary to high schools to help parents with school fees.
Powi said due to the Covid-19 pandemic that had caused the country’s economic strain, his administration opted to subsidise parental component of the tuition fees to students.
It will include fees for vocational training.
“I prioritised education as one of the key human resource development in the province going forward apart from other major developmental infrastructures, which would see educated elites and thus investing more so that they can be part of our development process,” he said.
“We have been subsidising fees for students since 2018-19 and will continue to do so this year.”
Department of Rural Development (DIRD) deputy secretary of the project implementation wing, Gordon Wafimbi, thanked Powi, provincial administrator Joseph Cajetan and treasurer Kevin Puruno to furnish their outstanding 2018 and 2019 provincial services improvement programme reports that would form the basis for monitoring and evaluation.
Wafimbi said the department would appraise, cross-examine with those financial information and report to the Government accordingly.
DIRD provides technical and policy advice and maintains close dialogue with the administrators, finance managers and political leaders so they are fully aware of administrative guidelines and financial instructions.