Rural schools to get funds

By YVONNE KAMBIBEL
EDUCATION secretary Dr Uke Kombra says the department intends to maintain the special additional grants to all remote schools in the country.
“We will do a trial this year and consider the continuity of this special grants from 2023 onwards depending on the outcomes,” he said.
Kombra said remote schools would receive K10 million on top of their share of the operation and functional grants from the K158 million budgeted for this third quarter of the government tuition fee subsidy (GTFS) for Term 3.
He said this was the department’s way of helping remote schools who faced higher cost of services.
“This additional subsidy is aimed at enhancing teaching and learning in these schools,” he said.
He said with additional funds, remote schools could sustain their operations and not be forced to close.
Meanwhile, Kombra told The National that the K158 million for this term was still being processed and would be paid to schools and provinces once they funds were ready.
He also instructed in a recent media statement that schools that had closed without proper reason would not receive their GTFS for the year.
Kombra added that these schools would be exempted from national examinations as well.
He said now that the elections were over, schools needed to get back to their normal operations.
He said there would be some exceptions made for schools in provinces that were still affected by election and tribal violence.
“Provincial education advisers (PEAs) were advised to assess the situation in their provinces and decide on appropriate course of action,” he said.
He issued a directive to PEAs and school inspectors to visit schools and provide reports to his office of the situation on the ground.