Scholarship budget raised

THE Morobe government has increased its tertiary scholarship budget to K10 million this year, Governor Ginson Saonu says.
“The Gerson-Solulu tertiary scholarship which subsidises 50 per cent of every recipient’s school fee was increased from 2019’s K7 million,” he added.
Scholarship coordinator Mainuwe Fanamu, however, said K10 million was still not enough to meet school fees and administration costs. He said the scholarship would help 2,255 students this year spread across 30 institutions in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Fanamu said the increase in Morobe students entering tertiary institutions was a positive reflection of an improved education system.
“But the increase also comes with the financial burden because some of these fees are very high, at more than K20,000 per student,” he said.
“The scholarships will cost about K10.5 million. Sadly, we are on a budget of K10 million.
“This means I will not be able to visit institutions to arrange for the students.”
According to data from the scholarship office, University of Technology had the highest number of scholarship recipients totalling 342, the University of Goroka had 333 while the University of Papua New Guinea had 325 among 30 institutes.
Fanamu said to be safe, parents must always prepare their share to secure space for their children in the institutions.
“Students and parents must know that accounts open by end of March and cheques are not ready until end of April, while classes start end of January,” he said.
In the meantime, he called on the Morobe government for more funds to offset the pending list of scholarship applicants.