By LUTHER SCAT LAMANG
A FORMER member of Parliament has said that the future success of Papuan New Guinea’s development depends primarily on education and training.
Sir Rabbie Namaliu, former finance minister and member for Kokopo Open said: “Education unlocks our minds and has the potential to absorb and accumulate knowledge, not only about ourselves as people and as a country but also how and where we fit in the region and in the international community.”
He said education also empowered people to make more meaningful contribution to their communities and to the development of the country quite apart from empowering them individually to make informed decision as well as to be better citizens.
Sir Rabbie was speaking during the Kokopo Business College’s 7th graduation ceremony as the keynote speaker yesterday at Kokopo, East New Britain.
A total of 118 students graduated with diplomas in Business Studies (Accounting, Management, Computing and Office Administration) and Technical Training Certificate in Business Studies.
He said: “Education is featured prominently in the National Development Strategy and there was a road map adopted by the last government to guide the future allocation of resources to priority areas.
“Education is an area that must continue to attract increasing investment by the Government because it is an investment for the future,” Sir Rabbie said.
He further said that education alone quite often was not enough to empower people to be better and well informed citizens in order to make meaningful contributions to their communities and to national development.
“It is in this context that training becomes an almost inextricable and necessary component of what I would call a well rounded education,” he said.
Sir Rabbie said education unlocks the accumulation of knowledge whereas training unlocks the acquisition of practical skills, experience and the use of modern technology such as the computer and related modern communication technology such as e-mail and the internet.
He said these would become the tools in the application of what was learnt to an actual life or job experience in whatever career pursued.