Schools around the country continue to suffer under the Government’s current Tuition Fee Free education program.
Toppled with the fact that the government is facing a financial crisis is not helping the situation.
PNGLOOP caught up with Chairman of the Bougainville Principals forum Martin Takali in Arawa recently who spoke about the issue.
He was attending a financial management training for the Principals forum members.
He shared how schools in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville are struggling to survive
He explained that the TFF policy is disempowering and ineffective because it does not arrive on time.
“At the moment we are heavily reliant on TFF alone that is why when TFF doesn't come we are very much concerned.
"Before the TFF came into effect parents used to pay school fees. Parents were paying them on time.
And we didn't have many problems at that time.
"Lower secondary students used to pay K1,500 and upper secondary students used to pay K1, 800 and by now, if TFF wasn't introduced they would be paying over K2000 per child. And that's according to the standard of living in Bougainville, in Bougainville things are quite expensive," explained Takali.
He said the reduction to K1000 per student across the board is unrealistic.
“Like in my school our Budget is K143,000 for last term 2017 and the National department has been telling us that they will pay us when they have the money.
“I don't know where they are going to look for the money to pay us but we need the money because in 2017 all schools in Bougainville were operating on credit basis.
“We owe alot of money to the stationary company that has provided lunch for us and many other service providers, “said Mr Takali.
The Bougainville Principals forum is an avenue for school heads to convene and discuss solutions for issues being faced by the respective schools.
Meantime he also raised concerns about the new online selection process, stating it has left one of his top performing student at a disadvantage.
" A student of mine who got five A's was not selected to do his course at University. He applied for computer science at the University of Technology.
"There was also the issue of names being removed after they were approved via the online selection."