by
Brian Gomez
When can every child expect
to go to school?
Over the past couple of years, this
column has ranged over very many topics, often from the view of
national or economic impact.
This week, I like to turn to education, arguably the single most
important issue for many parents.
Last weekend, I came across a poster from the Catholic charity
agency, Caritas.
It carried a simple message that eduction is as important as
food.
It suggested that hunger and lack of food were as much a problem
as the inability of people to access minimal levels of
education.
These are both stark realities in Papua New Guinea.
Over the years the levels of poverty has risen and many children
today suffer from malnutrition.
An inordinate number of children do not live past their fifth
birthday.
Many die at childbirth. Many more succumb to tuberculosis,
malaria and other ailments, partly because lack of adequate food
greatly affects their ability to stay healthy.
Since independence over 30 years ago, a large proportion of
children, possibly of the order of 25% to 30%, have not been
able to attend school.
When Australia granted this country independence, the
infrastructure did not allow a large number of kids to go to
school.
Over the years, despite the vast expansion of the education
system, more recent studies have suggested a similar proportion
– much larger numbers in raw figures – are not able to go to
school.
These are some of the realities this column has discussed in
various contexts – the need for governments to juggle priorities
and to work towards specific targets and goals.
The problems of hunger and malnutrition have to be faced on
several fronts, but development of the nation’s vital human
resources, through education, is just as vital.
Every child deserves an opportunity to go to school to complete
at least six years of primary education.
This is an issue that has not been adequately addressed in PNG
despite the Millennium Development Goals put forward as global
targets by the United Nations.
While leaving aside the often debated issue about free
education, a massive commitment is needed just to ensure that
there is adequate infrastructure in place for every kid to be
able to go to school.
On top of the necessary number of schools and classrooms, there
will be a need for greatly increased teacher numbers and other
material demands for a greatly expanded education system.
It is time the government sets up a multi-disciplinary task
force to seriously study this issue.
It is clear PNG will not meet the MDG deadlines, but targets
need to be set as soon as possible for the day when every child
can reasonably expect to be able to attend school.
This is a basic human right, on par with the right to adequate
food and shelter.
But it has not been addressed in the past 32 years of
independence, partly because the requisite financial resources
have not been adequate.
In addressing the future prospect, at some date, of being able
to offer every child a place in school, issues of great
complexity have to be faced.
We know of the immense problems posed by the wide expanse of
this country; the difficult terrain and the hundreds of widely
dispersed islands that support some of the country’s six million
people.
Even in the present system, there are schools in many parts of
the country where there are inadequate teachers or classrooms
and where teachers never shown up because of their remoteness.
On another front, it is often claimed that 80% to 85% of the
population consists of subsistence farmers.
How does a subsistence farmer, with little or no cash income,
pay for the education of his children?
These are very real challenges that need to be faced even today.
Even though it is so much easier for children in major cities
and towns like Port Moresby, Lae and Mt Hagen, there are
thousands among them that do not get any education at all and
many others that drop out after only two or three years of
schooling.
In a sense, free education is a misnomer.
In reality there is no such thing as free education or a free
lunch for that matter.
In the end, someone has to pay.
At present, taxpayers shoulder part of the burden and parents
share the remainder.
If the government decides to free parents of the burden of
paying school fees – what the public often refers to as free
education – the burden falls on the nation’s taxpayers to fund
the entire system.
Unfortunately, this is improbable at this time although the
nation’s capacity to do so will be increased if economic growth
is better harnessed.
This reminds me of the public servant who recently wrote to a
newspaper decrying the fact that a new five-star hotel was being
built in Port Moresby while he suffered the consequences of
having to live on a low wage.
The suggestion made was the government was wasting its money.
It must be recognised that the government will not pay a single
toea for the construction of the five-star hotel, which is being
built by foreign entrepreneurs.
The public servant was unable to see that unless businesses like
tourism and five-star hotels were able to prosper in the
country, there would not be enough jobs created for wages to
rise in any meaningful way, disregarding the fact that
businesses like these also generate more revenue for the
government.
If the economy was contracting, like it had done during much of
the 1990s, governments of the day will have less money to spend
on education and other services.
With fewer jobs, fewer families will be able to afford to send
their kids to go to school.
Even though faster economic growth is clearly a panacea to many
of the nation’s problems, targets need to be set to guarantee
access to education for all children.
