Focus on raising standard of education in SHP

The National Letters

ALLOW me to comment on the Teacher Training Programme (TPP) run by the Kutubu Special Purposes Authority (KSPA).
KSPA is a relevant local authority which provides the capacity and expertise in uplifting development profile in the remote Lake Kutubu  and Mount Bosavi Local Level Governments in the Southern Highlands.
Since 2006, KSPA has been taking a proactive approach in uplifting the education standard in KLLG and MBLLG especially targeting teacher training and direct job placements for successful teacher graduates in local primary schools in these LLGs.
The TPP is run under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between KSPA and OSLH Kabaleo Teachers College in the East New Britain Province which has so far produced seventy primary school teachers who are currently teaching in Kutubu and Mount Bosavi LLGs.
However, the MoU should be immediately altered in light of the Teaching Commission’s recent directive to improve teacher training in the country particularly through abolishment of the intake of grade ten leavers and tightening the measurement of academic standards of the teacher trainee intakes.
The Teaching Service Commission and the teacher colleges in the country have decided to lift the academic standard of teacher training to cope with changes that are taking place in the country.
Some of the prominent changes are the Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) reform, infiltration of technology and innovation, falling academic standards and the ability of some Grade 12 leavers to temper with the enrolment process by falsification of certificates and identity.
The OSLH has recently been featured for enrolling around forty unlawful students which the Teaching Commission swiftly terminated from the service.
Therefore, the OSLH Kabaleo Teachers College and KSPA should make an immediate alteration to the TTP MoU to accommodate the Teaching Service Commission’s directives which will enable quality teacher graduates to enter the education sector in Kutubu and Bosavi LLGs.
This importantly will be in line with KSPA’s goal of prioritising education sector in Kutubu and Mount Bosavi LLGs to propel long term sustainable development and the Teaching Service Commission’s directives.

Ega Wame, Via email