Private school calls for free fees

 By Rebecca Kuku

THE Government should subsidise school fees for private schools as well, a principal says.

Principal of Kopkop College Gabriel Kapul said, the Government should stop criticising private schools’ high fees and step in to help in some ways to ease the burden  off parents who  pay school fees in private schools.

“After all, our students are Papua New Guineans and their parents are tax payers,” Kapul said.

The Government has a free fees policy for all its schools.

This year the government has eliminated the burden of project fees from parents’ shoulders although some schools are defying the Education Department and charging project fees.

Kapul when responding to Bulolo MP Sam Basil’s criticism about private schools overcharging, said private schools were a business just like any other businesses in the country.

“We have to pay for our teachers’ salaries, fund our resource materials and keep our facilities updated,” he said.

“And because private schools put a lot of emphasis on facilities and provide quality learning and operate without government funding, the schools have to charge high fees in order to operate,” Kapul said.

He said if the Government thought that private schools were charging high fees to parents, then it should help  subsidise school fees or pay for teachers’ salaries to enable them to decrease school fees.

Kopkop is located at Gerehu and is a registered school with the National Capital District.