Improve quality of teaching profession

 IF the National Government is serious about improving the quality of education in Papua New Guinea it should start making the teaching profession lucrative to attract interest from the top students (10 to 20 per cent) from the current education system. 

This includes providing full sponsorships toward their training and providing attractive employment packages. 

Nonetheless, the current distraught teaching force would be anticipating the implementation of the recommendation put through by the Parliamentary Referral Committee on Education (PRCE) this year. 

The nation is at the juncture where the current government is driving a major policy on education on Standard Based Education and it is imperative the integral aspects of implementation of the policy are highlighted so teaching profession is not continually given a raw deal again. 

Successive governments have been blindly making lopsided decisions to change systems of education one after another but quality of education in PNG remains a lot be desired.

It is adding salt to the wound when the government is forcing upon the ever discontent and ailing teaching force to swiftly implement different government education policies while there is no resolve for long outstanding issues including the annual nagging leave fare debacles, housing, salaries and other pertinent issues for teachers in Papua New Guinea. 

Although, other issues such as deteriorating and chronically constricted school infrastructures, the stressful teacher-student ratio and hosts of other impediments which are there to haunt any good will and vision of the government to improve the standard and quality of education, teachers the very policy implementers are paramount and their issues of concerns must not be trampled on.  

As long as the long overdue teacher issues remain unresolved quality education will remain a mediocrity hence Standard Based Education (SBE) will not be anything better than the disposed Outcomes Based Education (OBE) or the Objective Based Education. 

The current government is prioritising education through its major policy of Tuition Fee Free (TFF), it will be interesting to know how much the education department have achieved so far in terms of providing equitable and quality education under the ambitious policy, let alone funds dissipated in the system and embezzled by paper schools.  

The glaring indicators of the output of the education system which caught the ire of the academia and poor discourse of written and spoken English in common places are examples of symptoms of poor standard in our education system.

Proponents including the so-called concerned parents are easy to jump on board to point fingers at teachers but failed to see that poor decision making and government gimmicks have caused the drop in the standard of education and the onus is on the current government to rectify the whole perception and address teachers’ issues equitably so teachers can give 200%. 

At the backend of last academic year we watched the government going about its publicity stunts on the benefits Standards Based Curriculum (SBC) and subsequent proposal to scrap off grade 8 and 10 national examinations necessitating every single child to exit school at the end of grade 12, while the ever unresolved issues of unpaid teachers and leave fares issues pop up again. 

Papua New Guinea education system is indeed doomed because the government is adding fuel and woe to the already frail education system as far as quality education is concerned. 

It is also an absolute madness by the government when it is proposing to push every child to grade 9 and 11 when high /secondary schools are already having a lot of headaches in enrolling the mushrooming student number each year due to high population density.

The Governments will continue give a lip service to the human resource development as long as teacher concerns are belittled, the state continually turning a blind eye to them and deliberately trampling under the carpet in Waigani. 

Toward the end and beginning of every academic year the incompetency and inefficiencies of line agencies such national department of education, teaching service commission and provincial educations division are brought into limelight when it comes to teachers issues. 

These are the very agencies need a major shakeup and towed in line by the government.   

The government must not continue to keep on overlooking issues affecting teachers the very people who are going to oversee the implementation of government ambitious policies and the ever changing education systems.

 I am afraid PNG will continue to drift away further into oblivion from quality education if teaching profession is not given the prominence it deserves.

Aso Amoyavi

West Okapa, EHP