UNDIALU SHIFTED FOCUS ON HELA STUDENT FEES AND FROM CURRENT POLITICAL MATTERS PLACED ON HOLD

By Raymond Haluma

Currently political matters were put on hold and the focus shifted to human resource development when close to a hundred students turned up to receive their school fee assistance.

 Badili student representative receiving the cheque copy and remittance documents from Hela Governor Hon. Philip Undialu at Laguna Hotel.

That was the reason for all the noise at the Laguna Hotel in Port Moresby yesterday when students from Hela province turned up to received their school fee assistance from the provincial government.

Hela Governor Philip Undialu, with cheques in hand,announced that a total amount of K6 million has been allocated for fee assistance this year. Of that K6 million, K5 million will cover students in the country while K1million for students studying overseas. Undialu also made it clear that these fees are only to assist students and parents.

“Let me also stress here that the support we give is just to complement the effort from the kids themselves and the parents and it is not a full sponsorship package,” the governor said.

Undialu also hoped that in the near future, when things improve financial, the provincial government can put in a lot more than just K6million. Probably up to K10million or K15million alone for school fee assistance.

The governor also said with the funding assistance given, he wants to see students focusing more on their studies and leave politics to their leaders to deal with.

The fees presented yesterday were firstly for Hela students attending both secondary and tertiary institutions in and around Port Moresby, including the privately run institutions.

The highest amounts presented were to three institutions; University of Papua New Guinea with K511, 638, Pacific Adventist University with K242, 497 and Institute of Business Studies with K150, 000.
Governor Undialu said this provincial government initiative started last year also with a similar amount.

Meanwhile, student representatives from each institution that attended the small presentation ceremony appreciated this good support coming from their provincial government.■