Principal calls on govt to pay full TFF funds

By EREBIRI ZURENUOC
THE principal of a primary school in Lae has called on the Government to have all tuition fee-free funds paid into school accounts.
Huonville Primary School principal Willie Vilakiva said the Government was not providing the funding in adequate amounts and on time.
He said that Huonville was a level eight school, meaning that it has a higher status in the primary education system.
“We enrolled 1742 students last year,” he said. “If you calculate the provincial education board (PEB) approved fee of K290, we were supposed to receive more than K500,000 but we received less than K200,000 for the whole year.
“For the first three quarters, we received less than K50,000 each, and for the last quarter, we received nothing because the payments had stopped.”
Vilakiva said the school needed more than K100,000 each quarter to operate.
The school sometimes gets school supplies on credit, especially from local suppliers, and pay when TFF funds are paid.
“We currently have a huge debt to be paid because the final quarter TFF installment did not come through,” he said.
“We are very fortunate that parents were able to pay the parental component and it has helped us a lot.”
The school also needs new infrastructure and other new projects but for the last two years, the TFF component for that was never given.
“For those reasons, the Government must pay all the funds directly into the school’s account and introduce a separate allocation for infrastructure,” Vilakiva said. “It will help in maintenance and new building projects.”