School funds to be paid in two weeks

By ZACHERY PER

FREE education funds for this year will be paid into the accounts of respective school in two weeks, Education Secretary Dr Musawe Sinebare said.

His statement came one day after Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said the free-education policy would be rolled out from this week.

Sinebare told the 28th bi-annual Lutheran church synod in Goroka that the payment of K258 million for the free education would be paid by the Education Department to schools by the end of the month.

He assured that corrupt practices by officers in the Education Department involving money earmarked for the start of the schooling year would be stopped.

Sinebare said 3,000 schools had no bank accounts and urged all schools to open theirs.

He said unlike the past where officers carried cheque books and handed them to schools, this year the money would be given straight to Bank South Pacific to allocate to individual school accounts.

"I want the Lutheran members here to go back to your community and inform those schools without a bank account to open one," he said.

School fees for elementary to high schools would be paid by the government while it would pay 75% for secondary and tertiary students.