Dr Uke Kombra

After the suspension, teachers affected will be restored on the payroll upon receipt of copies of Resumption of Duty Summary Sheets (RoDSS) by the Provincial Education Adviser.

In addition, he said that new graduates from Primary Schools’ Teachers’ Colleges, University of Goroka and the Pacific Adventist University will be placed on the payroll upon receipt of the following documents:

Schools are currently not allowed to collect any project fees and for parents who had already paid the project fees levied, schools would hold onto the fees pending the Cabinet decision.

Department acting secretary Dr Uke Kombra confirmed today that the Cabinet has discussed the matter and will make an announced next week.

Earlier this week, Dr Kombra cancelled a directive he issued which allowed schools to collect project fees, because of the “mixed application of the project fees policy”.

A total of K49.6 million was paid into school's accounts last Wednesday (Jan 27) after the department held back funds allocated for term 4 last year.

The funds were held back to avoid misuse of funds as schools were already going towards the end of the 2015 academic year.

Dr Kombra says the funds released last week and any savings schools may have from previous years should be used to commence the 2016 academic year which begins this week.

He said the Department is now preparing to release about K75 million for term one for the 2016 TFF funds.

Education Secretary Dr Uke Kombra said in a statement yesterday a circular dated Feb 1, 2016 will be sent to all schools this week.

Dr Kombra had announce on January 21 the imposition of project fees this year.

However he said the reintroduction of project fees in 2016 has already been misapplied by some schools.

"Until an NEC decision is made, no school is to charge and collect any project fee."

"If any school has collected project fees, those funds are to be held until NEC reaches a decision," Dr Kombra said.

The Acting Secretary has also informed all teachers that they are required by law to complete the Resumption of Duty Summary Sheet (RoDSS) and Teacher Record of Appointment (TROA) on the first day that they resume duty at the school.  This activity is important because it will confirm that the teacher has actually resumed duty in a school and position that the National Education Board (NEB) or Provincial Education Board (PEB) has appointed or posted him/her for this school year.

The Acting Secretary for Education, Dr Uke Kombra, has clarified the rationale behind the delay experienced in the payment of salaries for teachers and public servants last fortnight (Pay # 25/2015).

Dr Kombra said the delay happened due to the change in payment processes with the Department of Finance.

The former processes included cheques being generated by the Alesco System for all commercial banks for those employees with bank accounts in various commercial banks. These cheques were then collected by the payroll officers and released to each commercial bank.