Church rejects teachers’ postings
By ELIAS LARI
THE Catholic Archdiocese of Mt Hagen has rejected teachers’ postings made by the provincial education board to schools owned by the church in Western Highlands.
It may mean closing down schools it runs, the same thing it did last year.
Archbishop of Mt Hagen Bishop Douglas Young, pictured, said they were rejecting all the 2019 appointments made by the board to the schools.
Provincial Education Board (PEB) chairman Lawrence Pena could not be reached for comment. Text messages sent to his mobile phone were not responded to.
Last year about 80 elementary schools, 32 primary, a high school and a secondary school, plus two technical and vocational education trainings centres owned by the Catholic Church in Western Highlands remained closed at the beginning of the first term because the PEB had overlooked proper procedures in teacher’s appointments.
The church wanted the church agencies, secretaries and PNG Teachers Association officials involved in recommending the posting of teachers.
Young said the executives of the board had promised when the same problem arose last year that they were going to consult the churches this year.
Last year, the Catholic church and the Lutheran church similarly rejected the provincial education board’s teacher postings.
“The Archdiocese is calling on authorities to intervene and address this education crisis in Western Highlands, and to replace the present (provincial education board) membership with competent people willing to abide by the law and all relevant guidelines,” Young said.
3 comments
That’s fine some times some times village bods make appointment ..that is what happening in Morobe Province.. sometimes ethnic differences or political difference are also practiced.. Officer in charge even don’t reached the remote school make judgements..
The WHP educations system is a complete failure. No wonder the church run institutions can pick on the inequities used in the selection criteria of teachers..good on you Bishop.
How long should children, parents and community at large continue to feel the pain, the promises of educational wonders: right and wrong ways of teacher positions; establishments, and appointments; project fees; agency fees, andTFF money; certificated teachers; and well performing and well achieve schools. All these inputs into schools has brought and yielded so little in the 45 of education to Papua New Guinean children in our villages, urban centres, and our future generation.
As of 2019, the legislation, practices, teaching and learning, teacher training, school curriculum are not on par with the realities. Education does not emphasize thinking and is memory-oriented because almost schools and colleges are dominated by the ‘certainty principle’. The concern of Teacher Appointment, whose right or wrong and who owns the schools are practices and procedural requirements of ‘yesterday years. Papua New Guinea system is still according itself to the wrong and right answer to question and practice. Common everyone !!
We continue to practice, follow policies, and use procedural requirements that are now world wide mismatched given the knowledge gaps and scholarships now available with the changing nature of leading change management. Whatever happened to the review of the 2014/15 Education Act and MTDS particularly the transfer of authority and powers of those bodies responsible for Education, teachers, and many other limitations continue to haunt our ordinary citizens.
Its high time children and community should have a voice to shape their future by determining school curriculum, teacher appointments and placements, teacher assistants, including the rules of their schools, not PEBS, TSC, and Churches !!
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