Plant coffee, get fee aid: Undialu

Youth & Careers

HELA’S school fees assistance scheme will be tied to a coffee-planting initiative from 2020 to 2022 to identify genuine students, the provincial government says.
Hela Governor Philip Undialu said growing a minimum of 2,500 coffee trees would be a requirement for every student to receive funding support from the provincial government.
“If you don’t grow coffee, it means you don’t have land in Hela.
“That means you pretend to be from Hela and we will not tolerate your application,” Undialu said in a statement.
“The free handout mentality is killing our society these days. I see that our people are hardworking but free handout is making them lazy.
“I must now ask them to grow coffee so after 2022, if am not returned as Governor, coffee will sustain them.”
Undialu said the coffee-planting initiative would not only assist in identifying genuine students but also sustain the province moving forward.
“We know that many fake people benefited from the fund intended to assist students and that is why genuine ones are left out,” he said.
“This time we want to do it better by tying students with coffee-planting initiative not only to identify genuine students but also to sustain them in the future.”
The coffee-growing effort will start with the listed 2,500 students with an expectation of more than six million coffee trees to be planted.
Undialu, therefore, issued early notice to all Hela students to return home or organise with their parents and family to grow a minimum of 2,500 coffee trees and school fees vouchers would be issued in accordance with actual coffee trees planted on the ground.
HUEF coordinator David Liyago will start registering students who are interested to participate.
The governor appealed to the people of Hela to grow coffee as oil and gas will be gone but coffee and education will sustain their lives and the province in the long run.
“I urge everyone to dirty your hands to grow clean money.”
Meanwhile, Undialu said Hela would increase the school fees for 2020, 2021 and 2022 to K10m from K6m piloted in 2018 and 2019.
With the increase of K4mil, Hela will invest over K42mil in direct cash support towards education in the province.