Summit endorses 10-year education plan
A 10-year education plan presented by the Madang provincial Education Department in a two-day summit in Madang last week will provide avenues for Grades 8 and 10 dropouts in Madang to continue their education.
Governor for Madang Sir Arnold Amet was concerned about the large number of school dropouts especially at Grade 8 level and has pushed for the 10-year policy to be considered and refurnished before endorsement.
Sir Arnold’s government is committed to making sure that school age children in Madang are educated and those already in school must not dropout but continue on and have quality education.
As chairman of the Madang provincial executive council, the governor and his members were looking forward to endorsing the 10-year education plan and implement it in the new year.
A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) was also signed during the summit which will allow more teachers from overseas to come and teach in Madang through the VSO (Volunteer Service Organisation) programme currently existing in the province.

Four policemen detained for cheating
Four auxiliary policemen from Angoram in East Sepik have been detained at the Angoram police cell for allegedly stealing more than K8,000 from the people of Kasmin village.
Police station commander Charles Parinjo told The National that the policemen were detained when people complained that they had been collecting fees from them when attending to their complaints.
Mr Parinjo said such illegal practice of auxiliary policemen collecting money from the public had been ongoing for some time and he warned that the law would come down hard on such offenders.
He said these four men were found to be at fault when they did not produce bail receipts for a number of people who appeared before the District Court in Angoram last week.
Mr Parinjo said these four policemen had been arrested and charged with stealing K8,170 from Kasmin villagers.
They have been released on K100 bail each and are awaiting appearances at the District Court.

Look after our trees: MP
By ZACHERY PER
BUSHFIRES increase carbon emissions and contribute to the current global warming, Environment and Conservation Minister Benny Allan said.
Mr Allan urged leaders at all levels to discourage people from starting bushfires, but encourage planting of trees.
He also said people must be cautious of their actions and look after our trees and forests.
The Unggai-Bena MP, who attended the recent Bali Conference on climate change, said the global warming also caused natural disasters, such as the recent flooding in the Oro province.
In the Eastern Highlands province, landslides and flood destroyed several villages and coffee plots in three villages in lower Fayantina area of Henganofi district.
At least 14 people were almost buried alive by one of the landslides at Haive village. These people were now seeking assistance for appropriate disaster relief agencies.

IRC’s Six Mile office re-opens to public
By NATALIE LAVI
The Customs operations office at Six Mile is now back in operation as confirmed by the Commissioner General of Internal Revenue (IRC) commissioner Betty Palaso.
Ms Palaso apologised to the business community for the inconvenience caused during the closure.
However, she said the IRC was not responsible for the offices’ rental payments.
She said IRC did not the have the power to do anything about the rent for State leased properties stating that invoices for property rentals were forwarded to the responsible departments and not to individual agencies which are sometimes provided copies to follow up on payments.
She said the Six Mile office, like many other State owned properties, were being rented by the State agencies to occupy.

IRC donates to Oro
The Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) has contributed by donating cash and kind towards the Oro disaster appeal.
Commissioner General of IRC Betty Palaso handed over the donations to Ces Iewago, a trustee of the Oro disaster committee.
The initiative to contribute was coordinated by IRC’s senior training officer Anna Fairi, who placed boxes in each floor of the Revenue Haus in Port Moresby where IRC is located, so staff members could donate.
Mr Iewago in receiving the donations said the Oro disaster appeal drive had so far received K700,000 in total.
He said all donations would be handed over to the St Martin’s Anglican church in Port Moresby where they would be transported to Oro through the church network.
Meanwhile, Mr Iewago said the disaster highlighted the effects of the current global warming and called for a serious approach to the problem.

More help for Kairuku police
By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
CENTRAL police received K5,000 from Kairuku-Hiri MP Paru Aihi to carry out their festive operation in the Kairuku area of the Central province last Friday.
And 50 more men will be deployed to help local police officers enforce law and order in the area.
Central police commander Chief Insp Peter Taiang in receiving the money said such assistance from the local MP was very helpful in their work.
“We are facing shortage in logistic to maintain law and order in a large area like Kairuku with over 60,000 people. We have no vehicle to transport our officers to respond to law and order problems,” he said.
Mr Aihi expressed support for the Central police and said he had bought a new vehicle for the commander to use.
He also said that K1 million from the K10 million electoral funds would be used to maintain law and order in the area.