Pagelio: National school census crucial

National, Normal
Source:

By DULCIE OREKE

THE national school census is crucial to managing and administering the national education system, Education secretary Dr Joseph Pagelio said.
Data collected would be used by the Education Department to measure performance against education goals set for the country.
“This data helps us know the number of schools we have in the country, students’ enrolments, teachers and classrooms and enables us to project the number of classrooms and teachers we need,” Pagelio said.
Speaking during the launch of two reports in Port Moresby’s National Research Institute on Tuesday, Pagelio said the data collected would also help provinces assess educational progress and plan for future programmes.
“It is important that data collected is not distorted and is as factual as possible,” he said.
He said without data, there would not be any planning, predicting diagnosing and identification of weaknesses in the delivery of education services in the country.
Pagelio added that this was the fifth year that the department had been conducting national school census.
“We are, for the first time, able to know the total number of students, the total number of teachers and school financing,” he said.
Pagelio also pointed out that, each year, the department conducted data validation exercises to confirm data before it could be used to do national and provincial education planning.
The education secretary launched two reports – Lae district 2007 pupil enrolment data verification and a bibliography of education policy in PNG.