Morobe boosts leave fares

By JACINTA COHLEE
THE Morobe education department has paid K13 million as the leave fare entitlements for 1,345 eligible teachers.
Provincial education adviser Keith Tangui said the payment had been made after the responsibility had been given to province.
He said K7 million was usually allocated by the National Education Department for this task and beginning last year the Morobe provincial government had topped that amount up with K6 million and this had continued into 2024.
“Teachers in the province don’t get leave fares, but we decided to include them last year,” he said.
“They leave their villages, wards, LLGs and districts to teach in other areas of the province, so they also deserve recognition.”
According to a summary report, the total cost of the leave fares was K13,022,856.72, of which teachers from the Southern Region received about K2 million plus, Highlands Region another K2 million plus, New Guinea Islands K2 million plus and Momase Region got K5 million plus.
Based on the reports, Tangui said the majority of teachers teaching in Morobe were from the Momase region, therefore, huge funding was committed to them.
The funding was given based on the mode of transport these teachers would be using.
Meanwhile, Tangui said he was pleased with the grade eight academic performance for 2023 and said many students were eligible to do grade nine, which shows that students and schools in Morobe were improving.
He stated that the academic year would be starting soon, and teachers would resume next week and students would follow them.
Tangui wished teachers and students in Morobe a happy and successful academic year.