Govt must address rise in dropouts

THE number of yearly school drop outs and their place in society is a ticking time bomb and something the state, through its relevant agencies, must address.
The increasing number of school dropouts (we assume at all levels of education but in particular from primary to secondary) is a major concern.
If left unchecked the large numbers of unemployed youth turned away by the system would become an obstacle for development for the country.
Not sure what statistics from after the academic year in 2016 stand at, but there were some figures from National Development Bank managing director Moses Liu last year that of the 22,000 students that come out of high schools each year, some 17,000,
or 77 per cent, are “not employable”.
The problem is clear but the solutions are not so easy to come by.
So the question is: What is the government doing about it? What is their strategy and overall plan to deal with the problem?
This issue must be addressed by the new government sooner rather than later.
With a build of the masses in this demographic, there are bound to be issues that society will face.
The Education Department says approximately 50,000 students come out of Grade 10 annually and half of that figure out of senior high (Grade 12).
And out of the number of students completing senior high, only a quarter (6250 students) are accepted into the various state institutions around Papua New Guinea.
The rest of the school leavers are left to fend for themselves either in the job market or in private education institutions – if they can afford it which is very unfair.
In many if not most families, there is a high value attached to education.
It is seen as the ticket to a better life and something that can enable not only the recipient of the education, but their families and tribe.
The effect is multiplied and magnified over the community.
This has been a problem for a long time – it just was not felt
as much in the community as it
is now and has the potential to
do.
The solution, or one of them, was giving these students a chance to find employment and become, in a way, self-reliant and able to function in the modern economy. At present technical and vocational education is the low hanging fruit that many disregard on their way to higher honours but quite simply this is the only fruit worth getting for the majority.
The challenge the state has is job creation, giving young men and women in this country the means to earn a living.
The new Government, through the Education Department, must make technical education compulsory in all secondary schools.
It should not just be a complementary or supplementary part of the education system or be an elective but a core range of subjects.