More funds needed to carry out education policy

MORE money is needed to kick-start Madang provincial government’s education policy, senior education officer Jimmy Uguro said.
The government had early this year passed a policy to raise the standard of education by allowing all Grade eight students to proceed to Grade nine and 10.
The policy also outlined that the elementary year one and two would become part of the primary schools and English was to be the only language of instruction throughout the province.
Mr Uguro said in an interview that the division of education was prepared to get the education policy moving but the it needed funds to implement it.
“There are many areas that need to be prepared before the policy can be introduced.
“To introduce the six intermediate schools, which will have Grades one  to 10 in each of the six districts, will require preparations like the training of teachers, the infrastructure and the teaching resources,” he said.
However, a former senior journalist Otto Avorosi said: “I have observed that the standard of education in the province has been dropping as a result of the outcome-based education enforced by the Government for the benefit of foreign aid donors.
“The provincial government’s policy is good for the province to improve the standard with our own improved system but it is difficult to have all students to continue from grade one to12.
“The Government must start improving all facilities and training for teachers as it would need more teachers.”
Another concerned parent and senior public servant with the health department who wanted to remain anonymous, said many school children who missed out on placing were still waiting.
“The Government should tell the parents when they would start school and where they would go as the Government had gone public that all students would continue with their education to grade 10,” he said.
Mr Uguro said the first batch of 268 students, who missed out on a placing in the existing schools, would be enrolled at the new Transgogol High school, which was expected to start early this month.