Indian teachers

SPECIALISED teachers to teach science and mathematics in primary schools must be the Government’s look-forward plan for 2050, if we are to transform our education system.
The change is necessary in light of the failing standards at all levels of our education structure.
This will also save millions of money spend on hiring costly Indian science and maths teachers to teach in our secondary schools for the next 40 years.
With the lack of scientific and mathematical knowledge, teachers also lack the confidence and competence required to instil passion for these subjects in their students.
These often impacts the quality of classroom lessons, resulting in ‘cookbook’ activities that look hands-on but are actually overly procedural, which results in students disengaging scientific and mathematical interest in the process of moving from one level to the other.
This appears to be the missing link where the interest in science and math is dropped at the early stage of learning.
The lack of interest trickles onto universities and college studies where we see very low enrolment in science, as revealed by acting Vice-Chancellor of the University PNG Vincent Maliabe last week.
If we are to improve our performance in math and science, to ensure that our students are equipped with the skills needed to succeed in a global job market, we have to start from the basics (primary school) to instill a passion for science and mathematics at the early stages of the learning process. If a child is interested, performs well and consequently, finds enjoyment in math and science in primary school, they are more likely to not just continue studying these subjects, but to also achieve high results in secondary school and move on.
This important change will leave a legacy of new courses, resources and productive alliances, but most importantly, a cohort of better-equipped, more-confident and competent primary and secondary teachers of math and sciences in the years to come.

Ken Nandawa
Yaporolo Weki