Schools told to be fair

 By ELIZABETH VUVU

PRIMARY schools in East New Britain have been urged to practice transparency on the free fee tuition funding allocated by the national government.

Provincial education officer Casper Ruga said this following numerous complaints he received from some schools regarding the use of the free subsidies.

He said the fee free tuition money involved huge amounts and schools must uphold transparency and accountability at all times.

“Head teachers, chairmen of board of governors and board of managements must be obligated to inform all concerned stakeholders.”

Ruga said they must inform boards of management, teachers, parents and citizens committee, student body and the community on how much money the school received from the government.

“All these vital stakeholders have the right to 

know and especially the children because this is their money.”

To avoid suspicion or confusion among stakeholders or parents, he said head teachers must ensure they do this.

“So when the school is purchasing something, the community must be aware of developments in the school that will come from the money.

“It is not for head teachers and board chairmen 

to know only and keep it between themselves as 

this will only make people suspicious and raise questions.”

Meanwhile, all schools were reminded that project fees could only be imposed after the provincial education board had endorsed their proposals.

This follows reports that some schools in the province were imposing project fees.