Elementary schools vital for learning, official says

THE elementary school sector plays a vital role in early childhood education and development, an official says.
Morobe education adviser Keith Jiram said elementary teachers needed to be degree holders as childhood education was a complex area.
Jiram said much of the focus from State agencies was on the upper grades but elementary education was an important foundation for students and teachers faced many challengers such as registration, inspections, monitoring and qualifications.
He said the second challenge was the teaching of local vernacular at elementary level.
Jiram said despite having a positive end to promote cultural and traditional values, it was impractical because there were no standard references for the 700-plus languages in the country and all the teaching references were in English.
He said it also affected a student’s transition to learning English in the middle school years and onwards.
Jiram said it would have been better to have taught students in English to begin with.
He added that many elementary schools were not visited by education inspectors and most of the teachers were not registered because the Education Department had combined elementary schools with primary school and inspectors tended to be focused on primary schools.