Review free education policy

The National Letters

I WOULD like to raise this issue regarding students who successfully secure a placing in a higher learning institution.
They, however, fall short of securing Government assistance and must register with the full university/college fee as a self-sponsored student.
Most of these students have a background of insecure parental relationships.
They could have been raised by a single parent.
Either or both parents could have been disadvantaged through poverty, illness or death.
It is extremely difficult to accommodate these at times brilliant people’s needs for a full school fee and a decent learning.
Their situations are made more difficult when their names appear on the university listing, but they either receive their acceptance documents late or not at all, depriving them of a state of preparedness for the academic year.
Many of these students would miss out in a university placing they rightly deserve, and this must be avoided.
Due to improved knowledge among every child, many families who normally would willingly assist a disadvantaged relative, can no longer do so.
We have either one or more of our own children entering universities.
We appreciate the National Government’s initiative on free education.
We believe there may have been periodic reviews of the system by various education ministers.
We certainly appreciate the initiative, however, increasing university/college fees and number of disadvantaged students gives rise to more students from well-off families entering higher learning institutions.
Many parents – within church circles, in villages and ordinary citizens – have increasingly expressed a desire for the National Government to make adjustments to the free education policy by:

  • Allowing parents to pay our own children’s school fees from elementary prep up to grades 8 or 10;
  • subsidising when children are in grades 11 and 12;
  • helping those who secure a placing at higher learning institutions, perhaps by way if 50 per cent or more of the total fee; and,
  • Government fully funding students who make the top 5 per cent of year 12 grading as a token of appreciation for their hard work

We kindly request that the Government take our plea with some degree of concern and review the current free education policy.

Gerard Saleu
Goroka