The Papua New Guinea Government stands committed to it’s tuition fee free policy for elementary through to secondary school but parents need to use this time to save for tertiary education says Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Treasury Charles Abel.
Abel who was in Alotau at the weekend to launch his district’s K250,000 student assistance scholarship program for 2018, made the call adding the leeway by government to early learning should be time enough for parents to save for college and university education for your children.
"No matter what people say, no matter the doubters and all that, our government has managed to stick to that policy since we came in 2011 to today, invitational TFF payments coming out just last week. Our intention is to maintain this commitment…..I wanna say that parents need to take responsibility as well. You cannot sit back and expect everything on a plate. For example, once we brought in TFF, nobody had to pay schools fees from primary through to secondary anymore but soon as the child finishes Gr 10 or Gr12 and there's a fee, parents say, Oh no money!. Question is what have parents been doing to save for tertiary education, you know your child has intentions and hopes to go to tertiary institutions and you should use these years to save for this".
He says mindsets have to change, and parents must be seen to play that pivotal role to realizing their children’s dreams and aspirations.