Lupari wants religion in schools

CHIEF Secretary Isaac Lupari says making religious education compulsory in schools will address problems such as poor discipline, lack of respect for our culture and laws.
Lupari told department heads in Port Moresby recently that if the nation was going to address law and order, social ills, decline in ethical standards, decline in morality and increase in domestic drug abuse, “we must introduce religious education as a compulsory subject in our school system”.
“Religious education is one of the only viable solutions,” Lupari said.
He said PNG was a Christian country and Christianity was defined in the constitution.
“Yet this is not translated or embraced in our education and work place systems,” he said.
“If we make religious education a compulsory subject like science and maths, we will produce an educated population based on discipline, respect, integrity and value for each other.”
He said Prime Minister Peter O’Neill had seen the merits of religious education and directed everyone to work together to develop the religious education programme.
The plan is to make religious education a core subject from grade 1 to grade 12 starting in 2019.
“I encourage all my colleagues and other stakeholders to develop this policy and have religious education become a core subject in our education system,” Lupari said.
“Let’s all work together to develop this policy and get it implemented in our school system by 2019.”