Get serious with education

THE pre-election government of Peter O’Neill made several significant, and decisive, decisions on policy, two of which engendered much positive public sentiment. They were the free education and healthcare policies adopted with the express aim of alleviating the burdens faced by the majority of Papua New Guineans.
So far, in the country’s history, no government had exhibited the fortitude or gumption to enact any of their election promises that they may have made during the heat of campaigning. This included comprehensive state funding of primary to tertiary education and ensuring the basic health and welfare of the population were met.
The impacts of an unhealthy or unfit workforce and population are readily recognisable, thus, ensuring that whatever funding is allocated to that sector, its effects can be felt almost immediately.
The question of having the nation’s children and youth educated without cost to the parent is a utopian ideal. Very few countries in the world have tried this policy, and those that have could not sustain fully the costs associated with the public service.
Make no mistake; the proper and effective education of any individual is a demanding exercise but, in the end, it is well worth the cost.
If the new government is serious about staying the course providing free education, then the honeymoon is over with regards to the pronouncements and posturing. The 2013 school year is barely seven months away and an O’Neill-led coalition government, which would be formed after the return of writs, would have to make the call on rolling out the policy in effect come 2013.
Is the timeframe feasible?
Can it be done?
We would have to answer in the negative, simply for the reason that the whole polling and counting period has been a protracted affair with so many instances of irregularity and foul play being alleged in electorates across the country. The courts will be swamped with many a losing candidate disputing results.
That alone virtually assures a government with preoccupations taking it away from its job of governing the nation. Despite this potential delay, if free education is to become the reality many parents are hoping for, then, there is another set of entirely different and, perhaps, more important questions that must be answered sufficiently before the policy can be implemented.
If you increase the volume of students through school gates overnight, then, that too will bring on problems of its own.
PNG schools and education institutions must be suitably staffed, equipped and built up to cater for this expected increase in student numbers. This is where the real costs lie as many schools already operate on a bare minimum of facilities and materials.
The government would then have no choice but to overhaul a system that has only gone through several formative changes in curriculum and the restructuring of grade levels. But not one where the capacity to accommodate a heavy load has been factored in.
The government needs to be mindful that it does not fall into the trap of simply pumping up figures of graduates or school leavers but neglecting the quality of the product or the society into which they are released.
Presently, the statistics quoted by various state departments, including education and labour, estimate that of the 50,000 (secondary and tertiary) school leavers churned out annually, only a fifth can be absorbed directly into the workforce. This means the government is faced with a problem that is growing rapidly.
Job creation is the obvious answer but the graduating student must also be of a standard that allows him or her to find employment.
Urbanisation has recently become a buzz word in economic circles. But the incoming government must set aside resources and come up with workable strategies to reshape  the country’s economy back to one where there is more emphasis on agriculture, livestock, fisheries, forestry and cottage industries. They should be re-established as the backbone of the economy.
So the conundrum the next prime minister faces in relation to the free education policy, if he chooses to pursue it, is to provide every child an education and, at the same time, maintain and improve the quality of schooling. And at the end, provide jobs for the graduates the system produces.
It is a tall order but one that holds the key to the nation’s future.