Increase in dropouts worries PM

National

By MIRIAM ZARRIGA
ABOUT 200,000 students have missed out on places in tertiary institutions around the country over the last 10 years, says Prime Minister James Marape.
Marape was speaking at the University of PNG’s strategic and governance workshop at the Apec Haus yesterday.
“God knows what they are doing,” he said of those Grade 12 school leavers.
“In the next 10 years, if we have this status quo, then you expect another 200,000 Papua New Guineans out there who are left out of tertiary institutions.
“Compounded with those who left Grade 10 every year, there is about 50,000 of them who haven’t progressed into Grade 11.
“We can see a total population of about 1 million youths of Papua New Guinea that have been left aside and who are not cut out for higher education or not given proper skills for capacity and life skills; this is what is left of our schools every year.
“Those in the education space must be aware of these statistics because you and I do not have the luxury of time and safety if we continue to ignore the statistics.
“That generation who were unattended to will harm this country in the next years to come.
“Those who were fortunate to reach employment will be haunted by those who are not properly engaged in the country.
“There is a greater need for us to be aware of those in our country if we do not rise up to ensure our children are properly skilled and motivated in the right place.”
Marape urged UPNG to reposition itself as the country’s answer in reforming students with life skills.