NO PROJECT FEES UNLESS PROJECT PROPOSAL SUBMITTED

MR. ANDREW ANGOBE
First Assistant Secretary for Department of Education, PNG

In line with the decision made by the Marape/ Steven Government to do away with the Tuition Fee Free (TFF) policy, schools nationwide have been questioned on whether project fees are to be collected for the 2020 academic year.

To answer this, the First Assistant Secretary for the Department of Education (DOE), Mr. Andrew Angobe, has made it clear that all government run primary and secondary schools should not be collecting any project fees at this time, unless the project proposals have been approved by the respective Provincial Education Boards.

“Parents should only be focusing on paying their portion of this year’s school fees that have been passed in the government’s new Subsidized Tuition Fee Policy.”
“Payments for this year’s fees should only commence in Term 2 because all government schools have been ordered to utilize money from last’s year’s 4th quarter of TFF funds, to run this year’s term one,” said Mr. Angobe.

Mr. Angobe, who is also in charge of monitoring schools in NCD, said that all schools in the nation’s capital should not be collecting any project fees because project proposals, budgets and plans have yet to be approved by the NCD Education Board.

“For term one alone, students are not to be sent home from attending classes even though if they have not to paid any of their fees yet. The money from last years’ 4th quarter of TFF is already available for school’s to use to cater for term one,” he said.

In addition Mr. Angobe stated that, all Provincial Education Boards will be going out to monitor and inspect the schools to see if they are in violation of this decision.

“Those Principals who are found guilty will be dealt with and will face dire consequences. They can lose their jobs or even be relieved from office if found guilty,” Mr. Angobe said.
He further went on to reassure schools nationwide that the DOE is currently working on getting this year’s funds ready for use.

Meanwhile, the parents should know the fees they will have to pay for their children as approved by National Education Board. In 2020, parents will be contributing 36.6% of the total Maxim School Fee Limit set by the NEB. The fee sectors will be as shown in Table 1. In Table 2, the overall estimated budget allocation for each component by sector is given. [Source: PNG EDUCATION NEWS]

Fee Structures for 2020 in Table 1 and Table 2

PNGFM / PNGEducationNews