Treasurer reveals project fees will be refunded

PARENTS who have paid school project fees for their children are to get reimbursed possibly at the end of the month, according to Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey.
As part of Governments intervention to combat inflation, it has set aside K126 million to cover school project fee costs across the country.
Ling-Stuckey indicated that school fee payments for term three would be released to schools this month.
“The acting secretary for Treasury and the secretary for Education met last Wednesday to discuss implementation of the K126 million package to cover school project fee costs,” he said.
“This could be worth up to hundreds of Kina for families with children in school.
“This part of the programme will reimburse parents for legal school project fees they may have paid this year.
“For those that have not yet paid, there will be no need for payment.
“A working group will finalise all of the guidelines over the next two weeks.
“We want this to be a very accountable programme.
“I am very pleased that the secretary of Education was confident that the project fee reimbursements could commence from the end of this month.
These would be based on the legal directions of project fees being no more than 20 per cent of term fees.
“Better cash flow management by the Marape Government means that we can deliver such key services in full and on time.
“There have been delays, especially when directed through the six provinces operating provincial education trust accounts, but overall schools are receiving much higher levels of timely support by the Marape Government.”