Jumping the gun with compulsory education

I WRITE  in  disapproval of the education  minister’s  proposition to make education  compulsory.
Is it a smart idea or a brilliant concept?  To me, it is neither.
It appears that someone has just woken from a deep sleep and is wanting to tell everyone of a nice dream.
It just does not operate that way.
Every ideology must be tested out and tried, and only then, it is worth putting into the main domain.
How can the education minister  make education compulsory when the country is lagging when it comes  to data with the civil registry?
The infrastructure is not in place to cater for the inundation of enrolment.
Emolument  is  another  outstanding issue.
When government programmes overlap with continued dysfunctional  systems  after 38 years  of  independence, how  can  compulsory  education work in a country where the previous education  reform has proven to be a fiasco?
The government  needs more universities and colleges as well as to expand and refurbish these existing educational facilities.
There is a need to train more teachers, establish a national database and have every citizen registered before the minister can bring on the compulsory education system that he is talking about because capacity would be increased in preparedness to cater for the increment and would be able to sustain it.
The  previous education reform has produced one thing and that is quantity without quality.
Whoever sponsored the reform should bow his/her head in complete shame for it failed the country.
Apart from schools around Port Moresby and private schools, students who enter universities from public  schools  are unable to articulate or express well in spoken or written English.
Evidently, that is a result of the outcomes-based education reform.
The country is not anyone’s backyard garden where he/she can bring new crops  and try it out to see how it is coping to grow.
The country is bigger than the scope of anyone’s mind.
Issues of important milestones should be discussed at length, debated widely to look at its pros and cons and fine-tuned for testing and trial.
Without consulting the public domain,  the acting education minister’s publicity on compulsory education is nothing short of rushing in haste for political point-scoring.
It  is  an  illusion  and will never eventuate  unless  the  prerequisites are met.

N Waiyo
Via email