Governors told to build more schools

 GOVERNORS have been urged to set up community colleges and tertiary institutions in their provinces to develop and train their human resource.

Education Minister James Marape told provincial governors at  a two-day education investment meeting that the focus should be on providing opportunities for students who had dropped out of the education system after Grade 8.

He said community colleges and technical skills training institutions were important to improve human resource capacity in the provinces. 

The governors presented reports on what their provinces needed to achieve and to expand access to quality and secondary education.

It was agreed at the meeting that most provinces lacked opportunities to provide further education to students dropping out at the upper primary, high school and secondary level.

“All maritime provinces should seriously look at implementing maritime colleges so they can equip their young generation to better handle and address issues to protect their waters,” Marape said.

“Likewise every other province should come up with a tertiary institution that will provide opportunities for their students to develop their province and the country.”

Marape said the country lacked technical expertise and technical trades, forcing companies in the liquefied natural gas project to engage workers from overseas. He said PNG had the manpower but it lacked the certification and proper skills training recognised for employment.