Dr. Uke Kombra

“Reports received from provinces are welcoming so far and the Department is looking forward to the other examinations that are coming up.”

Dr. Kombra said the first issue was reported by Nissan High School in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. The Department faced challenges to do with the delivery of exam papers to the school because of bad weather.

The second issue was to do with the late request to the Department by Ovan Technical High School in Eastern Highlands Province and Mendi Secondary School in Southern Highlands Province for Braille Exam for their students.

The direction was issued through Circular No. 05/2023 on Monday 30 January, directed to provincial education advisors, district education officers, school inspectors and school heads.

The circular warned school heads not to defy the government’s GTFS Policy Directives by collecting school and project fees.

Stating that school heads found to be collecting school and project fees will be charged and suspended from payroll.

The public announcement was headlined ‘No School Fees or Project Fees to be charged by Schools in the National Education System in 2023’

Dr Kombra referred to two circulars that were issued to all the provinces, all institutions and authorities before the National General Elections which gave guidelines to Education Boards and communities in making decisions for schools in relation to elections.

The first one was the Secretary’s Circular Instruction No 5; which specify exactly what schools and teachers should do, prior to the elections, during and after elections.

Secretary for Education, Dr. Uke Kombra provided the numbers, after reports came out in the media of the delay in issuance of teaching diplomas. 

As of last week, the Department of Education has been deregistering elementary teachers, and to date has removed 620 of them.

Dr Kombra says these 620 teachers are currently teaching in elementary schools around the country.

After going through teacher qualifications, they found that 620 did not qualify for college, but were enrolled.

Out of the 235,000 students, 30,000 are in 188 secondary and the 6 national high schools who will sit for he Grade 12 National Exams; 73,000 students from 350 high & secondary schools to l sit for the Grade 10 National Exams, another 130,000 from 3,400 primary schools will sit for the Grade 8 National Exams.

Students from the permitted schools, approved by the Department of Education will also sit for the three national examinations.

Examination dates are as follows:

This payment is Batch 1 of Payment 1 and will benefit schools in all sectors of education in the National Education System.

The Secretary has advised school boards and administrators to use the Government Tuition Fee Subsidy (GTFS) payments to support education in emergency and WaSH programs at all schools, including vocational and inclusive education centres in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Dr. Kombra’s comments come after the recent arson at Ningerum High School in Western Province on September 12th.

Dr. Kombra said burning down of the school buildings is not the solution to any problems hence demanding for the ill behaviour to stop.

He warned the schools that the frequency of school fires must now prompt the school authorities to take tough control measures on discipline of students.

Dr Kombra said the National Executive Council has approved an extra day on June 6 for this campaign, thus schools are being urged to fully utilise both days and drive the key message to students.

The United Nations’ endorsed theme for World Environment Day 2018 is “Beating plastic pollution”, and all schools throughout the country are asked to come up with local themes in line with the international theme.

Secretary for Education, Dr. Uke Kombra, says this is due to space limitations in secondary schools, including the National Capital District.

About 115,000 Grade 8 students in 3,007 primary schools throughout the country will sit for their final Grade 8 Eight Examination on Monday 30^th October to Thursday 2^nd November 2017.

Education Secretary Dr. Uke Kombra said 69,000 Grade 10 students are expected to sit the exam in 301 provincial high schools and secondary schools nationwide.

Provincial education advisers, provincial examination supervisors, senior secondary schools’ standards officers, guidance officers, principals and head teachers have been urged to be vigilant and security conscious of the confidentiality of the examination paper.

“This is to avoid any form of malpractice that may compromise the examination results,” stated the Secretary.