O’Neil confirms ghost schools

News, OTHERS

By Simon Eroro

Peter O'Neil confirms ghost schools
Peter O'Neil confirms ghost schools

Mr O’Neill said in the previous practice, the Education Department handled the school subsidy program on its own and that may have allowed for cheating and collaborating with people down the line and outside to defraud the State.

“However, this has changed. The Education Department is now working together with the Finance Department in implementing the O’Neill-Namah Government free education and subsidy policy and this decision has now uncovered the biggest rot in the system,” Mr O’Neill said.

“This government is a government for the people and fighting corruption is the number one priority of my government.

“No one is above the law and the public servants out there who think they can get away with this…I have to be sorry but you do not deserve to be roaming freely, having a decent job and a decent salary,” the PM said.

Meanwhile, Mr O’Neill has also confirmed that the first cheque payments to more than 6000 identified schools have already been presented to Bank South Pacific (BSP) for release to all these schools last week and should be completed by end of next week. The Government will be setting up a team to investigate and uncover more than 2000 “paper schools” who have over the years received school subsidies and no school to show for.

This was revealed by the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill during an interview with him yesterday as part of the Post-Courier’s investigation being carried out to establish the number of existing schools in the country, mainly in many remote parts of the country — and that the government’s free education policy budget corresponds.

The Education Secretary Dr Musawe Sinebare in a press statement yesterday denied there were more than 2000 “Ghost Schools” and that these schools paid subsidies each year was also wrong.

Dr Sinebare said the report is referring to 2981 schools that have not submitted their enrolment or census data. He said subsidies will be paid when they provide their school data.

However, Mr O’Neill admitted that the free education policy had uncovered the issue of “paper schools” in the country and the government will establish an investigation into the matter.

“I am now calling on the Education Department to answer up to this and an investigation on this will be instituted shortly,” the Prime Minister said.

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