K150mil tuition-fee funds paid: Kuman

TUITION Fee Free (TFF) payments for the first term have been made to schools, according to Education Minister Nick Kuman.
Kuman, pictured, told those at the launching of online student data collection in Port Moresby yesterday that a full payment of K150 million was paid last week for the first term and in a week they would start work on the payments for the second term.
He said the national budget allocated for TFF this year was K615 million, an increase of K15 million on last year.
“The Government will continue to invest in education as its priority and we will continue to pay school fees for students in elementary schools all the way to grade 12.”
“What we want to achieve from the free education policy is basically the accessibility to verify if our girls and other students who cannot afford education can go to school.
“We have seen a huge growth in our enrollment in the country as the student population before 2012 was just under 1 million, now it has increased to 2.2 million.”
Kuman encourages partners and agencies in the country to support the Government in its investment in education.
He said TFF materials for schools had been delivered to schools in each province and for those who had not received their supply, they should check with their respective districts.