By Kolopu Waima
Schools in towns in Western Highlands Province which have not received the funds for fee free education have themselves to blame.
And that is, they have either not submitted their census forms or had give wrong account numbers to the National Department of Education (NDOE) in Waigaini.
Secretary for the Education Department Dr Musawe Sinebare said this when responding to an article in the Post-courier about schools that missed out on these funds.
The article on April 10 in page 6, quoted the Headmaster of Tega Lutheran Primary School Rae Wane as saying: “We are very concerned that most schools in Mt Hagen and Western Highlands Province have not received their funds. Mr Rae mentioned level six, seven and eight schools like Tega, Engunui, Hagen “T” and Tarangau Primary Schools were still waiting for BSP to release their subsidy funds to their respective Westpac and ANZ accounts.’’
However, Dr Sinebare explained in a statement yesterday that NDOE had identified six schools from the province which did not receive their Tuition Fee Free and subsidy funds because these schools which were all located in town failed to submit their census forms on time. He added that by the time they submitted the census forms NDOE found errors to do with wrong bank account details.
Dr Sinebare said that wrong account names were submitted for Mt Hagen Primary, Hagen United community, Tega Primary and Kolgi-Namba community schools. Tarangau’s account was the original BSP (PNGBC) account so the Kundupei system could not accept it, causing a delay in the school getting its payment while Engnui Memorial Primary School did not submit its census form.
“These errors have been identified and corrected, especially the wrong bank account details and these schools should be able to get their payments anytime now,” Dr Sinebare said. He called on Engnui school to submit its 2011 census form because all amounts for the first term were calculated using the 2011 enrolment figures.
In the case of Waigani Primary School in NCD, Dr Sinebare said that the school submitted its bank account details late this year when it should have done that at the end of 2011.
“The Department of Education took out full page advertisements in the Post-Courier and The National newspaper in the beginning of November 2011 and also community service announcements on the National Broadcasting Corporation, requesting schools to provide their bank account details so that their funds could be deposited into their correct bank accounts,” Dr Sinebare explained.
He added that because Waigani school submitted its bank details late to NDOE its payment could not be processed on time.
“The process in getting the school details and amounts to BSP to pay to each school’s account is long because both the department and BSP have to check every detail to ensure that the right school gets paid the right amount.
“I am now calling on all the other schools that are still waiting for their payments to provide all the necessary details that are required to process the payments,” Dr Sinebare said.
Meanwhile, it has been reported in this paper yesterday that NDOE is looking at having successive governments continue the fee free education policy, as directed by this Government
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