Make quality education the priority

 TEACHING is a demanding job that requires in-depth knowledge of subject content and many varied skills such as patience, leadership and creativity. 

The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at school or other place of formal education. In many countries, including Papua New Guinea, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional qualifications from a university or college. These professional qualifications may include the study of pedagogy or the science of teaching. 

Teachers, like other professionals, may have to continue their education after they qualify, a process known as continuing professional development.

A teacher’s role may vary among cultures. Teachers may provide instruction in literacy and numeracy, craftsmanship or vocational training, the arts, religion, civics, community roles or life skills.

There are around 50,000 teachers in PNG who are responsible for the education of our children in primary and secondary schools.

Their daily grind of classroom lessons and extra-curricular activities give children the basic education that will form the building block for higher learning.

Teachers throughout the country took a breather on Friday to join their colleagues in other countries to celebrate World Teachers Day. It was a very special day for the 30 million teachers and education workers around the world who joined hands to promote the global movement for quality education. PNG is one of 400 affiliates to Education International (EI), an initiative adopted during the world education conference in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2011.

The EI initiative is designed to bring together all affiliates, governments and other stakeholders as well as students and parents to support the goal for quality education. The campaign seeks the support of governments around the world to mobilise policies and funding to ensure that children of the world receive quality education.

PNG Teachers’ Associa­tion president Tommy Hecko holds a firm view that education is “the most important enterprise” for stimulating social, political and economic future for the country. 

“Education for all must underpin quality and right to education is fundamental for our people. PNG people deserve quality education.”

We could not agree more with Hecko. In line with the push for quality education, the PNGTA is pushing its teachers to be given quality training and school class size must be moderated, among other issues, to promote good teaching and learning practices.

The teachers’ association has called on the Government to: 

• Continue and increase pub­lic education funding in 2014 and onwards;
• rehabilitate and increase funding on school infrastructure, and,
• Increase salaries and allowances and improve non-salaried benefits such as housing for teachers.

These are key issues that the Government needs to address in order to realise quality education.

PNGTA national general secretary Ugwalubu Mowana has warned that the provision of quality education was under attack because PNG was among many countries which were destined to fall short of achieving their Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on education by 2015.

“It is therefore fitting that our government and ourselves as citizens must wake up to reality and mobilise to achieve quality education for all. Papua New Guineans deserve not just accessibility to education by quality education.” We support Mowana’s concern that teacher training has never been given priority by successive governments since independence 39 years ago.

While the O’Neill Government has placed education on its top priorities list, the emphasis of its free education policy is more on quantity rather than quality education. The PNGTA is well aware that quality education can only be achieved if our teachers are trained to a higher standard. That is the very reason the association wants teachers to be given quality training with the support of appropriate resources, infrastructures and incentives.

It would be wise of the Government to take heed of the PNGTA’s concerns and recommendations by placing greater emphasis on quality education and teaching standards.

The simple fact is that better trained teachers mean better educated children.