Some members of the Morobe Tertiary Students Union have no accommodation or have been deregistered from their respective institutions due to the partial payment of fees from the Gerson-Solulu Scholarship office.
While Morobe Governor, Luther Wenge, committed to pay in full the fees of every single tertiary student from Morobe, some students have not been attending classes for over a month as they still have outstanding payment.
President of the Morobe Tertiary Students Union (MTSU), Jack Maru, is a final year forestry student at the University of Technology.
He said some of their peers were able to continue with semester two as their parents and guardians were able to meet the outstanding payment while those students who did not have the money had to stay back and pursue the office of the Gerson-Solulu Scholarship.
And they have been doing it for one month and one week now.
“Right now, we have here is Balob Teachers College president and executives, Unitech, the National Polytechnic Institute of PNG, the University of Goroka (UOG), Goroka Technical College, Madang Teachers College, Maritime PNG – those are the presidents who could make themselves available because of transportation purposes.
“Our other colleagues were not able to join us a few weeks ago because of funding that is needed to travel to Lae.”
The group of students came to Tutumang Haus this afternoon to meet with the Morobe Provincial Executive Council education chairman, and told him that the officer in charge of the Gerson-Solulu scholarship has not been forthcoming with them.
“Rightfully, all the Morobe students around the country did not receive 100 percent scholarship,” the MTSU president told him.
“Most of the students received 26 per cent. The University of PNG students received 24.5 percent each, which is not according to what our Governor has mentioned.
“Some of the students have already been deregistered. For example, Divine Word University.
“And UOG, before their examination, they removed their boarding privileges and mess access. That’s the situation that made us come here and seek assistance here.”
Toovey Solo is a third-year political science student at the University of Goroka. He described their situation as difficult, saying students were forced to look for accommodation – even renting units – while their student leaders remained in Lae to plead their case with the provincial government.
There are 278 Morobe students at UOG.
“They have removed us from the residential halls because funds were not available in the institution. Before the first semester examinations, they removed us. We slept outside, with our relatives, and did the exam.
“Those students whose parents allocated funds were able to register but some of the students who came from rural areas, we’re still waiting for these funds to be made available.”
The provincial education chairman, Lemson Gilangsaoc, gave the assurance that K8 million has already been paid while K12 million still remains in the Gerson-Solulu scholarship account.
“Students should not pay any component fee,” he said. “Tok Pisin em olsem 100 percent – from elementary to university.
“K20 million has already been allocated. And from that K20 million, they only paid K8 million. The remaining K12 million needs to be released immediately and the students can return to classes.”
The provincial education chairman said the governor is aware of the situation, and they will have another meeting with the officer in charge of the scholarship next week.