Academic laments drop in university standard

A LAW lecturer at the University of Papua New Guinea has expressed concern over the declining quality of students leaving various institutions throughout the country.
Associate professor of law John Lulaki said the quality of students today was lower than those in the past.
“I am teaching ‘down’ instead of ‘up’,” he told students, parents and citizens during the East Sepik provincial day celebrations at the Waigani campus last Saturday.
Luluaki said he was proud to be a Sepik because the province had produced some of the country’s best intellectuals, professionals and business persons.
He also acknowledged the leadership and insight of past leaders like Leo Yawiga, Peter Simogun and other not-so-well-known labourers who went to work on plantations around the country without a care of what conditions the jobs held for them.
Luluaki also acknowledged Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and other PNG leaders who brought PNG from a “slash and burn” and “hand to mouth” way of living to what is now a modern economy.
However, he said the number of students entering the universities from East Sepik was not impressive.
He called on education officials at all levels to enlist the help of academics and other knowledgeable persons to remedy the problem.   
Also at the gathering, UPNG school of business administration executive dean Prof Albert Mellam urged the students and Port Moresby’s Sepik community to forge a better destiny for the province and the country.
“Today is a date of destiny; a time to do some soul searching and move on.
“To do that, we need good leadership and attitudes; we must shape the future for our children,” Mellam said.