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Sports |
Basic education must be accessible
EDUCATION is the only sustainable
poverty reduction strategy and every effort must be made to make
education accessible for all children in Papua New Guinea.
Every child has the right to education and the longer that right
is blocked by poverty, the more our law and order problems will
increase.
The quickest way to increase literacy in PNG is to ensure that all
children have free primary education and that adult literacy is
available in community learning centres throughout PNG.
These centres can be run in classrooms after hours, in church
halls or under the trees and are a priority in the newly endorsed
Integrated Community Development Policy of the Department for
Community Development.
Unfortunately, the discussions are a bit late for this school year
but hopefully a new policy can be in place for 2008.
The education cost- analysis policy should also look at other
issues such as the need for shift classes in areas where there are
not enough classrooms to accommodate the number of children.
No class size should exceed 40 – and preferably it should be
reduced to a maximum of 30 students as soon as possible.
As a teacher by profession, I am very sympathetic to teachers who
are faced with large classes. It is impossible to do quality
teaching in those circumstances.
Another cost burden for parents is the school uniform requirements
in many schools.
The cost of uniforms is ridiculously high and school boards should
be forced to review their policies.
No child should be turned away from school because they do not
have shoes or uniform.
It is an injustice and a denial of basic rights. Uniforms must be
made affordable and simple so that women can sew the uniforms for
their children or as a small business.
It is shameful that countries in Asia and Africa that are much
poorer than PNG have already achieved universal primary education
and yet our statistics are getting worse every year.
The “user pay” policy should not apply to primary education.
If anything, it should be a very nominal amount to help with
consumable items such as exercise books.
All political parties must be committed to making basic education
accessible to all our children.
Carol Kidu, DBE MP
 
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