Education to be a must

 By ROBERT TIKI

EDUCATION will be made compulsory for school-aged children from next year at the Mt Giluwe local level government in Western Highlands, an official says.

Provincial education committee chairman Michael Mai, the Mt Giluwe LLG president, said that during the opening of a double classroom and teacher’s house at the Purareri Primary School in Upper Kagul, Tambul last Friday. 

He said many children were being denied access to education by their parents.

“I see kids under the age of 12 and 13 roaming the streets doing nothing. This is evidence that their parents are neglecting their kids,’’ he said.

Mai said there should be no reason for this because the Government was injecting millions of kina into education.

He said the Government was trying to relieve parents off the burden of paying school fees from elementary school to secondary school.

“People should appreciate this by sending their kids to school,’’ he said.

He said depriving children of their right to education was an offence, and some narrow-minded parents failed to appreciate this.

From next year, education will be made compulsory and parents are warned to send their children to school.

“Parents with Stone Age-mentality have no place in society,’’ he said.

Meanwhile Mai said all primary school teachers in Mt Giluwe would be supplied electricity through solar panels.

He said he wanted to make the lives of the teachers in the district more bearable.

“Teachers are important and need fair treatment,’’ he said.