Parents urged to not rely on scholarships

PARENTS of Morobe children attending tertiary institutions, especially first year students, are advised to settle their children’s tuition fees in full.
“Don’t rely on scholarships from the provincial government. Don’t assume they are getting the scholarships,” an officer in the Morobe provincial government said.
He said many parents were over confident that their children would be granted scholarships, thus, many were not registered for failing to settle their fees.
“The selection process for scholarships is long and tedious because it needs proper screening before the final list is up.
“Parents must realise that their children’s application is just that, just application. They need to go through a formal process of screening where only those who meet our criteria will be selected,” he said.
“That’s why parents must pay their children’s fees and not wait for the provincial government to pay,” he said.
The officer also said that the screening process only started on Monday and would take a week.
“Hopefully, it should be completed by Friday. But in the mean- time, parents must pay their children’s school fees in full because there is no guarantee of scholarship,” he said.
It is understood that once the selection was done, the selected students who have paid their fees would have their them refunded by the provincial government.
The scholarship scheme this year received K4.7 million from the provincial budget.
The scheme is currently sponsoring 1,200 students.
The numbers are set to increase.