WHP adviser: Schools receive subsidies

 ALMOST every school from elementary to secondary and technical and vocational education training (Tvet) centres in Western Highlands have received their school fee subsidy from the national government.

Provincial education adviser Stanley Maip said only a handful of schools did not receive theirs because of bank account number errors.

He said, as far he knew, almost every school received theirs and they were putting them to good use.

Maip said many schools did not write their account numbers properly and that had confused the banks.

He said when banks wanted to deposit the funds, the accounts turned out to be owned by one person and that was why few schools did not receive theirs.

“Or else, as far I know, the national government free education funds have been received by all schools and diverted into building infrastructure,” Maip said.

He said the error with bank account number was one while the other problem is they did not send the census form which contained the account name and details.

Maip said, for the elementary and primary schools, it was their opportunity to build new classrooms and improve their learning equipment.

“The education sector in the province is progressing well and we are focusing on more infrastructure in each school.

“With the increasing number of students we have to build a lot of classrooms and provide learning materials so that it can accommodate them,” he said.

Maip said with the national government free education policy, school in Western Highlands were benefiting a lot.

“This is a dream come true for many schools as they are focusing on the infrastructure developments.”

He said with that he was now focusing on ways to accommodate the increasing number of students.

Maip said students should sit in a good classroom to learn.

He said in previous years the enrolment figures had been increasing because of the free education policy.

Maip added that under his management he would make sure every child received a better education in the province and had a better place to learn.