The Acting Secretary for Education, Dr. Uke Kombra, has instructed all school principals of the national institutions in the National Education System to observe the duty travel protocols on travels outside of their local institutions and schools.
Dr. Kombra issued this instruction through Secretary’s Circular Instruction No. 3 of 2016 on Wednesday, March 2nd.
He said it has come to his notice that principals and Governing Council members of schools have been travelling frequently to Port Moresby or elsewhere without appropriate approvals.
This matter has become a major concern to the Department of Education.
"These trips are at times unreasonable and cost the institutions money."
Dr. Kombra also reminded schools that the Tuition Free Fee funds allocated by the Government are to be used to provide quality education to the students and they must be used prudently and they should not for travel.
Schools administrators should observe the following guidelines for duty travel outside of their schools and provinces:
- You must clearly state the purpose of your travel, cost estimates and how the travel will benefit the school in terms of delivering quality education to the students.
- Prior to taking duty travel, a request must be made to the appropriate authorities for approval. For provincial institutions, it is the Provincial Education Adviser or the Provincial Administrator or his/her delegate to authorise the travel and in the case of the national institutions, it is the Assistant Secretaries.