Tapo: Acquit fee free funds

 TUITION fee free and subsidy funds are public money and must be acquitted as required by the Public Finance Management Act 1995, Dr Michael Tapo. 

Tapo, the acting Secretary for Education  made these comments when responding to an article in The National on Thursday quoting the provincial education adviser for Morobe, Murika Bihoro: “The Education Department should not focus on asking for acquittals from schools as a requirement to release the next batch of subsidies”. 

Tapo said it is no different to the past acquittals and principals and head teachers should be well aware of this requirement.”

He called on all head teachers, principals and managers of elementary to secondary, high, national high schools and vocational centres throughout the country to submit their 2012 tuition fee free/subsidy financial report to the department as quickly as they can.

All schools were supposed to use the combined cash books and financial reporting template to record all transactions for the year and provide a school financial report in early December 2012.

Heads of schools who fail to comply with this financial instruction will be disciplined under the Teaching Service Act 1988, while school boards which fail to submit proper financial reports as required will be referred to the appropriate education boards and law enforcement agencies for investigation.

“We are now into the second week of the third term of 2013 and many schools will have already received and spent their first payment of the 2013 money,” Tapo said. 

“My advice to all heads of schools and school boards is to finalise all your financial reports for 2012 and submit them now so that you can concentrate on the 2013 expenditures.”

He announced that schools should have access to their funds under the second payment this week.