Morobe schools told to save funding for shortfalls

MOROBE schools have been advised to save half of their fourth quarter government tuition fee subsidy (GTFS) funding to meet shortfalls next year.
Provincial education adviser Keith Tangui said K7 million in GTFS funding for the fourth quarter and about K6 million in project fees had been to schools across Morobe.
He said when spending money on hosting end-of-year functions, careful consideration was needed to ensure half of the funding was retained to meet the shortfall for the commencement of 2024.
“We have to be prepared because we don’t know; the Government might say for fee-free education next year. Students will be flooding your schools and classrooms,” Tangui warned.
“Prepare in advance so that you can’t blame the Government for not giving you enough funding assistance. If you were given K150,000, then save half of that money.
“Use money wisely when hosting end-of-year functions and save money for next year.”
Provincial GTFS monitoring and accountability coordinator Nick Mayang said only schools that provided acquittals were allocated funding.
Meanwhile, Mayang encouraged all schools in Morobe to have a school learning improvement plan in place before the year ended, so they would charge fees and spend money according to the plan.
Morobe received K13.5 million in GTFS funding for the first quarter, K13.88 million for the second quarter and K9.8 million for the third quarter, and about K7 million this quarter.
The province has 860 elementary, 362 primary, 30 high and secondary schools, and 16 vocational education training schools.