New Ireland allows schools to charge project fees

New Ireland provincial executive council (PEC) has allowed schools in the province to charge stuents a project fee during enrolment.
The project fee is to cater for various projects schools undertake but are not covered by the tuition fee free (TFF) allocation.
Provincial education director Apelis Benson said the TFF funding from the Education Department was usually inconsistent and insufficient to cater for the project requirements of schools, thus the need to charge project fees.
“Schools in the province are charging project fees,” he said. “The PEC has agreed upon and approved standard project fees for schools to charge students.
“For elementary schools it’s K70, for primary schools it’s K150, for secondary schools it’s K300 and for Tvet (technical vocational education training) it’s K250 per child.”
Benson said the PEC had made it clear that no children should be sent home if they did not pay their project fees upon enrolment.
He said students could enrol first and pay their project fees later.
Benson said the project fees were for things like maintenance of classrooms, teachers’ houses and infrastructure. He said all 465 registered schools in the province would follow the fees set by the PEC.