PNG Higher Education receives K65 million for Student HELP Loan Program

The Papua New Guinea National Government has allocated a total of K65. 1 million in the 2022 National budget, to continue running the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) this year.

Prime Minister James Marape said this when giving an update on higher education in the country recently.

Under the Higher Education Loan Program or HELP, all students attending colleges and universities registered with the Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (DHERST) are eligible for the loan.

Marape a former Education minister says that this government is committed to ensuring that quality education is accessible to all students in an affordable manner, and this can be achieved through HELP, an initiative he set up when moving into an office in 2019.

The HELP programme will generate its first dividend in 2022, after some of its postgraduate students who were assisted in 2020, graduate this year and start repaying their loans. 

He adds that these dividends will be saved in the Higher Education Endowment Fund, and this will be used to sustain the HELP program in the long run.

PM Marape also took time to congratulate DHERST Acting Secretary Dr. Francis Hualupmomi and Minister Wesley Raminai, for putting in some mechanisms, to effectively manage the HELP programme. 

NBC News / PNG Today

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