Government-funded students studying at the Divine Word University (DWU) in Madang Papua New Guinea are questioning a reduction of their allowances for this second semester.
Report reaching this paper from the Solomon Islands Students Association (SISA) in DWU said that the reduction of the allowances is ridiculous because each student receive little even not a half of the allowance.
“We call on the government especially the ministry of fiancé and treasury to liase with the ministry of education and human resources development (MEHRD) to release the last tranche of our allowances.”
Parliament has passed the 2014 national budget including allowances for SIG sponsored tertiary students studying in various universities overseas under the MEHRD.
“It is clear in the budget of MEHRD that the allowances is allocated for the students and not to be politicized, thus it begs explanation to us why the allowance not release in full amount like in previous years.
“If USP students in Laucala Campus in Fiji got their full allowances , then why Divine Word University only receive piece of the cake as such it raises more questions than answers,” the SISA statement said.
“We fear that next month was the last meeting of the 9th Parliament and our call for the responsible ministries must not fall on deaf ears.”
The students said politics must not creep in to their affairs, particularly their allowances because they have ten more weeks of lectures and the academic year’s ends.
“We call on the Solomon Islands Government to responsibly facilitate our allowances sooner the better,” they said.
“Despite students were unsettled with the amount given mid of this month, but we praise our sponsor Solomon Islands Government for making available for us” SISA said.
Meanwhile, attempt by this paper to get comment from the responsible ministries was futile yesterday.
Efforts to talk with the permanent secretary of finance were unsuccessful as he was said to be out on a meeting the whole day.
Comments are sought from the responsible ministries.
By STEPHEN DIISANGO
