Educating our human resource the way forward

MANY developed countries like the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and others have been through the same development struggles as PNG is going through now.
Their people were neither geniuses nor rocket scientists but just like us.
However, there is one major difference between their founding fathers and ours.
They invested immensely on education.
The people were given the chance to pursue their education and, in return, give back to their countries through taxes and contributions through the public sector.
In PNG, the major destabilising factor is that most citizens are uneducated in many aspects of their lives.
For example, a landowner in one of the mining areas may be given millions of kina as royalty payments.
He or she may lack the basic knowledge on how to manage such a huge sum of money and goes on speeding spree.
When the money runs out, he or she returns to the village when the mine’s life nears it end and become another condemned person.
PNG leaders, public servants and decision makers must focus on education.
It is the only important and fundamental mechanism that can bring a country out of poverty.
After 35 years of struggle, the country is boasting of major investments, a fraction from such windfall must be invested on human resource development.
We must send our top university graduates to study abroad and, simultaneously, increase the number of university intakes and provide sufficient space to accommodate them.
Empowering our human resource is of utmost importance.

Gibson Palimas
Chengdu, China