Elementary teachers unqualified to teach

The National Letters

THE government is embarking on quality education for Papua New Guineans.
The problem can be solved starting with elementary schools.
These are some of the things I noticed about the elementary teachers’ performances;

  • SOME cannot spell their own names correctly;
  • THE teacher in charge (TIC) wants to give the first and second prize to the same pupil during their graduation;
  • THEY start classes at 9am and close at 11.30am and they allow other pupils to conduct assembly and dismiss the pupils at day’s end;
  • THEY don’t buy or read newspapers and books;
  • THEY don’t speak English well and don’t seem to understand it as well; and,
  • THEY teach in vernacular and tok pisin.

Many of them are alleged to have borrowed certificates to gain entry into elementary teacher training, while others were alleged to have bribed the elementary schools coordinators to gain entry.
All these events clearly show that the elementary teachers have nothing to teach the kids.
Why not get rid of such liabilities.
If we don’t, the standard of education will drop from bad to worse because the team that caused the downfall are still playing with the new standards based curriculum.
The Government should make tough decisions in this area to achieve quality education.

Petroza Poko,
Chalk Dust for 25 years