Education not on level ground

By ELLEN TIAMU
IN this day and age, a formal education is very important in a person’s life. While many will not be guaranteed a job at the end of the different stages of learning, knowing how to read and write is an important first step to rising out of illiteracy and breaking the cycle of poverty.
Children have to attend school to receive formal education. The schools they attend must have good teachers and an equally stable learning environment. Leaders in the country have recognised the importance of an educated population and in recent years been working to build more schools and teachers colleges to overcome illiteracy in the growing numbers of young people in their electorates.
In Wewak, East Sepik, the Reverend Maru Memorial Teachers College is an institution that is rising to the need for more teachers and a better educated populace. Owned and operated by the Assemblies of God Church PNG, Education Agency, the college was established in 2011 in honour of late Reverend Joseph Maru, General Superintendent of the AOG Church in PNG, who passed away three years earlier in 2008. Since its establishment, it has graduated over 150 students with another 130 students set to graduating at the end of this month.
Last month, it added to its educational facilities with the opening of a double-level building. The project that took over 18 months to complete due to funding issues is a multi-purpose building that houses classrooms and offices. The total cost was in excess of K1.5 million, with funding coming mostly from the fees paid by the students. The new block was opened by the Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, Francis Marus. To affirm the Ministry’s and Department’s (HERST) commitment to what the college has set out to do to promote quality teacher education in the country, a K200,000 commitment was made to the college to assist with its academic and infrastructure development programs.
The programs the College offers focus on training Elementary and Primary school teachers. Many of the teachers who have graduate from the College are teaching in some of the most remote parts of the East Sepik Province and the country. Their presence has allowed schools that had closed due to the unavailability of teachers to reopen.
The college also offers a second chance to Grade 10 school-leavers to attain higher qualifications up to Grade 12 under the National Department of Education’s FODE (Flexible, Open and Distance Education) program.
Chairman of the Governing Council, Professor John Luluaki, at the opening of the building acknowledged the leadership of East Sepik Governor, Grand Chief, Sir Michael T. Somare, describing him as a teacher, and longtime leader who brought warring tribes of this country from statelessness, to statehood over the decades he had served as a leader.
“His stature and reputation as a politician, leader and statesman eclipse anything any person in any field, leader or politician has achieved since Independence. He perhaps stands as the single most influential and respected individual of our time.”
“As the light of his illustrious political life dims and as he walks the twilight hours of his political career, it is worth our while to remind ourselves that he started out his life as a teacher in a classroom before going on to becoming a teacher in politics, leadership and life generally.
“And as the political giant prepares to bow out from his political classroom, no one knows that we might be here today to open the classrooms of future prime ministers, statesmen/women, and leaders of this country and governors of this province.
Professor Luluaki also thanked the Ministry and Department of HERST for being among the key players in translating the Rev Maru Teachers College vision into a product that offers quality teacher training and a second chance for students at getting an education to help them set and achieve the goals they wish to pursue in their lives.
The college was recently recognized and registered by the National Department of Education as an approved Teachers College for Primary Teacher Education.
Minister Marus and his departmental secretary were both at the occasion.
The Department of Education was commended for its supervision of the college’s programmes to ensure that the products provided by the college go through all quality check processes and meet the training and educational standards set by the government.
There was also praise for the provincial government and churches.
“The history of the churches’ association with education is as old as the history of this country; a history that predates Independence by several decades and the Second World War. Churches are united because they agree and disagree. They agree on the importance of both secular and Christian education and they all also disagree with the Devil,” Luluaki said.
He said the college council recognizes that not every young citizen who occupies a desk, chair or space on the floor in the country’s elementary, primary or secondary schools shares the same or common classroom, family and emotional experience relevant to classroom performance and ultimately GPA.
“We are acutely aware that the potholes and corrugations of inequalities that divide citizens, schools and teachers in our province are as varied as the number of schools, teachers, families and societies in it. We are also aware that the nature, character, and form of inequalities among students, schools and teachers across the length, breadth and along the spine of the country’s educational institutions are as diverse and complex as its cultures, customs and topography,” said Professor Luluaki.
“Not every child attends school belly-full, has parents who can afford shoes or an additional set of uniforms, walks the same distance to and from school, is free from abuse or mistreatment while at school, is free from teacher absenteeism, is safe walking between home and school, has the benefit of both parents at home, or returns to a violence-free home environment.”
“Free education is important but not the solution because the inequalities that affect classroom performance remain unaffected. The form and contours of inequalities across the nation’s educational institutions clearly militate against what every parent desires for his or her child.”
He said students across the nation’s schools and tertiary institutions should not want to just receive an education, parents and leaders must, on their behalf, demand that they also get one.
Professor Luluaki called it a “national challenge; a challenge that must unite the nation.”
The Governing Council of the Teachers College and its management team, he said, recognized the challenges that lay ahead for them but were neither afraid nor intimidated by them. They already had the software of a vision and a commitment to implementing it for the benefit of the children. The hardware they now need help with, he said, is facilities such as classrooms, appropriately qualified teachers and housing for them, recreational facilities, and accommodation for students.
Professor Luluaki also recognized the important role of the Government in the Government/Church partnership in social endeavours such as the Reverend Maru Teachers College. It will do what it can, he said, but has to depend on the Government to do the things it cannot. As he sometimes says to his students, “if the dukduk cannot put your challenger down, the pukpuk will take him out”, the challenge always determines the response.
The college already looks forward to next year with hopes for increased financial support from the Department of Education for more than 30 paid teacher positions and 30 scholarships from DHERST.