Baloiloi sees knowledge as key that opens doors

FORMER University of Technology vice-chancellor Misty Baloiloi says it is important to use knowledge to organise life to achieve greater value and purpose.
Baloiloi, who is now the policy adviser and team leader of Sustainable Development Programme in the Department of of National Planning, told the graduates of Don Bosco Technological Institute in Port Moresby on Friday that the country needed human capital with appropriate skills to carry the challenges of nation building.
He said that out of the 27,000 young men and women who did grade 12 examinations this year, only 18 to 20 per cent would have the opportunity to go on to colleges or universities next year.
The remainder will have to find something to do to stay out of the unemployment pool.
Baloiloi said a recent study by one of the biggest investors in this country revealed that one of the top 10 factors which impeded growth in the country was the lack of human capacity, the lack of skilled manpower – not only to manage growth but to actually put in place the enabling physical and organisational infrastructure to facilitate production necessary for growth.
“What is the value of building world-class infrastructure and high technology in the country if our young people are simply going to be recipients and spectators who marvel at that development put together by a foreigner?” he said.  “They turn to crime at night because they do not have a stake in the much-celebrated change that is unfolding in front of them.”
Baloiloi told the graduates and the students that their graduations was the fruit of a well-tendered garden through the time and effort the teachers put into the students’ education to gain the knowledge and skills through technical and vocation-based learning.