Papua New Guinea's government has released 112 million US dollars, or 238 million kina, as the first tranche of funds for the free education programme available to all schools in the country.
Announcing the payment, the acting Education Minister James Marape said the tuition fee-free funding covers fees for students attending elementary schools up to grade 12 and vocational centres, as well as subsidised fees for permitted schools.
However the Post Courier reports that about 5000 schools throughout PNG are in danger of missing out on the funding for the 2013 academic year.
These schools have not provided the neccessary details on their enrolments and bank accounts in time for the start of the school year next Monday.
Mr Marape says 11-thousand schools have met the criteria to receive the funding, with 1. 3 million students in total set to benefit from the Government's free education policy.
Meanwhile, schools in Bougainville will still charge school fees.
