Headmaster stresses importance of reading

THE key to building a knowledgeable society is through reading and understanding what is written, a head master said.
But Madang’s Yomba Primary School head master Bob Sakol said that skill was not being stressed in elementary schools.
Sakol said elementary level was the crucial learning stage for children but it lacked adequate funding, required facilities and materials and the welfare of teachers was being neglected.
Speaking at the closing of the National Book Week last Friday, Sakol was critical of the government introducing top-up, rather than bottom-up planning.
“After setting up of necessary facilities at the foundation level (elementary) we could have do-up with top-up system that would allow smooth flow of children’s learning,” he said.
“Elementary teachers need to be trained at teachers’ colleges and graduate with diplomas and be paid well like primary teachers.”
He said without the right grounding at the elementary level, students would have difficulty learning.
He said school libraries needed the latest encyclopaedias, journals and the Bible to shape their moral values.