Parents happy to pay K40 in project fee to help kids

By LOTTIE WAYAGURE
PARENTS of students attending a school in Port Moresby have agreed to pay a project fee of at least K40.
Bavaroko Primary School head teacher Cathrine Moresi said parents had already started paying.
“It was agreed that K40 would be the project fee for students but parents have said they will pay more if they can,” Moresi said.
She said parents called it a “parents and citizens” fee because “it is to help the school implement projects that will benefit the school and students”.
Some of the projects to be funded included new classrooms, an administration building, a school bus and fencing.
“I had to go to the Education Department to get approval. But they said I was on my own and if anything happens, it will be between me, the school board and the parents,” Moresi said. David Puele, who has two sons attending the school, said they were notified to pay the project fee in a newsletter circulated last year.
“If this will better my children’s education, then I’m all for it,” Puele said.
Meanwhile, Moresi said they would not accepting any transfer-in students this year because the classrooms were full.
“The standard number of students to a teacher is supposed to be one-to-40 or one-to-45. But we cater for up to 60 students per class,” she said.
Moresi told The National yesterday that the school enrolled 2322 students last year, and expected more than 2000 students to return this year.
“The classrooms are already crowded. I cannot push my staff to teach in overcrowded classrooms,” she said.