| Business |
On course and on time
DESPITE justified public cynicism
directed towards the timing of the Prime Minister’s announcement
of the K100 million educational subsidy, we can only commend the
Education Department for its smart handling of the grant.
Dr Pagelio, the Education Secretary, indicated some weeks ago that
details of the allocations would be published early in June. Both
he and his department kept their word, as the excellent supplement
in The National yesterday indicated.
The allocations to each school are clearly and precisely indicated
and the basis for those allocations has been made clear.
The subsidies have been distributed according to the enrolments at
each school.
That is fair and equitable.
It also provides something of a rebuttal to those who have alleged
that the Government has established a record of uneven
development, favouring those departments and provinces most likely
to give it a return in economic profits or political mileage. We
might add that the Prime Minister has finally made it clear that
he is no supporter of “free education”.
The National has maintained an unwavering attitude towards
Government payment of school and other educational fees.
We don’t believe that Government-funded education is in the
interests of parents, children, the government of the day or the
future of the nation. Parents too readily come to regard the
education of their children as somebody else’s problem.
Many parents are already unwilling to educate their children in
life skills and wash their hands of responsibility for the
behaviour of their offspring long before they reach puberty.
Free education will encourage that attitude.
Children will find it harder to develop a positive attitude
towards studies paid for by a government. They will come to regard
the provision of public support as an integral part of their
lives, an assured right that they can afford to take for granted.
Nothing could more surely discourage the development of individual
brilliance, personal responsibility, societal obligation and a
balanced and rational view of PNG and its future directions.
The liberal philosophy that for decades informed the PNG
curriculum always acknowledged the background presence of a dream.
That dream was free quality education for every child in the
country.
It was a wonderful dream – and a dream it continues to be.
It cannot become tangible until educationists in PNG help turn it
into a reality.
And to do that requires PNG to commit a far greater proportion of
its income to education.
We would have to aggressively pursue far higher teaching standards
and so educate parents that an insatiable thirst for learning
became as much a part of life as breathing. Those goals are in
some ways even more remote today than they were three or four
decades ago.
Education today does not represent the glittering goal our
grandparents fought to gain.
Teacher education is arguably less effective than it was in the
past, with teachers often disinterested in the fate of their
students.
For many, teaching has become just another job, rather than the
passionate profession, the dedicated career of yesterday. Those
who suppose that free education would lead to an increase in the
involvement of parents in the running of schools and the progress
of their children might well be in for a shock.
Parents and students now regard education, their schools and
teachers and their facilities as the duty of the government to
provide.
If parents pay a significant proportion of school fees, they are
far more likely to take an interest in how their money is spent
and how their children are benefiting from their contributions.
Schools in PNG have the chance to return to the days when parents
and citizens organisations were an integral and reliable part of
the school fabric.
Maintenance of schools and teachers houses could again become a
acceptable responsibility of parents and the community.
But that won’t happen if parents believe that the responsibility
for educating their offspring lies with somebody else.
We warmly congratulate Dr Pagelio and those who worked hard to
honour the Education Department’s undertakings.
But at the same time, we continue to believe that the government
proportion of school fees should be minimal.
Papua New Guineans have always stood on their own two feet.
 
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