MP: No fee subsidy for students

HUON Gulf MP Ross Seymour says his district has no policy to assist tertiary students with school fees due to alleged abuse and misuse of funds.
He said the district development authority (DDA) had initiated the Huon Gulf tertiary students scholarship scheme (HGTSSS) from 2012-2017.
Seymour said the DDA had noted alleged abuse and misuse of funds by coordinators responsible and had the scheme terminated.
He said the reasons for the termination of the scheme were: that non-Huon Gulf students had been included; because of the unauthorised use of a parliamentary letter head by coordinators in communication to public and private tertiary institutions to collate student numbers when the scholarship was meant for Government institutions only; that some institutions had no Huon Gulf students, yet, coordinators had money paid to them; that money spent on logistics and accommodation by coordinators was not justified; and, students under HGTSSS did not return to serve in the district after attaining their qualifications.
Seymour said this after a protest by Huon Gulf students attending University of Technology in Lae last week.
He said to avoid past experiences of 2017 to 2020, the DDA had an arrangement with Balob Teachers College, while a similar arrangement with the school of nursing was pending a decision.
“For this year, the DDA resolved to pay K5,000 per student across the board for students attending Government institutions,” he said.
“We will honour our commitment after students pay their portion and bring a copy of their payment receipt to district education manager Sam Geseng.
“Respective student leaders should be responsible to collect name lists and receipt copies of their payments.”