By Nou Vada, UPNG student

On the fourth day of the 2011 academic year, the UPNG SRC has sanctioned a petition by members of the student body requesting an explanation from the administration on the 8% increase in school fee and then the subsequent introduction of a Two Hundred and Fifty Kina bond fee payable by every residential student which was never mentioned of or advertised until students old and new started flocking back to school mid February and were informed by UPNG Accounts personnel to pay extra.

In a meeting of the general student body, the SRC President Bill Minjikul guaranteed students that the SRC would champion their intentions and further agreed with some student commentators who spoke in the meeting that a popular petition should be circulated for eventual presentation to the Administration of UPNG. Within hours of the meeting petition forms had collected about 300 signatories.

Petition leaders are aiming to collect signatures from two-thirds of the student population. Some student leaders are already discussing the prospects of what might happen if the petition is disregarded. “If we resort to strike then the ambit of the strike must cover everything... the lack of internet services, the horrible food served at the mess, the assessment system which is still a mystery to many students – everything”, commented Jerry Unage, a frustrated Economics student. UPNG’s administration has denied being in debt as was reported by the Sunday Chronicle on January 30^th.

In Orientation week, First year students were told that the story was misleading. However, there is a strong sentiment amongst many in the student body that the Administration is not being truthful and that UPNG is indeed ‘broke’ as was termed in the Headline of January 30. The current fee increases is viewed as proof of this.

Photo: University students sign the petition against the fee increase