PM: 2,000 ghost schools getting funds

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Monday 09th January 2012

By ISAAC NICHOLAS
ABOUT 2,000 “ghost schools” in the country have been receiving government funding without having any existing facilities, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has revealed.
He said the current free education policy exercise had now discovered these “ghost schools” which  would be removed from the government education system.
He said the free education policy would be rolled out this week to all schools.
“This week we will see definite movement of education funds rolled out to the schools and commercial banks have been instructed to debit money into school accounts,” he said.
He said the first 2,000 schools which had furnished their bank
account details should have money in their accounts.
Another 2,000 which had not opened their accounts were asked to do
so and forward the details to
the Education Department.
“Another 2,000 or so schools are non-existent but have continued to receive government funding and the exercise being conducted has revealed some of these irregularities.”
O’Neill said the government had more important policy issues to deal with than creating instability over the Nov 29 Falcon jet incident.
He said there were issues of inadequate health facilities, road infrastructure, education and law and order issues which affected the simple people on the streets and in the rural communities.
“What kind of leadership do we have because we have missed out on a lot of opportunities?” O’Neill said.
O’Neill said he was mandated by 75 MPs to become PM and he would perform his duties in the best national interest.
“I am discharging my responsibilities with care and responsibility and let the people be the judge,” he said.