Poor results get Morobe working

Worried about its diving academic results, Morobe is seriously trying to find out why its students are doing poorly and how to right the ship.
For 15 years the province has seen academic results at schools and tertiary institutions decline to the point that it is now ranked 17th out of the 22 provinces.
In one of the first steps to improve things, Morobe Governor Ginson Saonu has started an education reform that involves an early childhood programme.
Bumayong Lutheran School of Excellence planning committee member Jeptha Gelinde attributed the decline to several issues.
The first is to do with exams, Gelinde said, pointing out that students had little preparation for final exams.
The second, Gelinde said, was lifestyle and culture, with students in secondary schools too preoccupied with fighting, cult practices, and drugs and homebrew to be able to focus on education.
The third issue was about the poor quality of the teaching staff, with Gelinde saying that primary school teachers who graduated from Balob Teachers’ College with a diploma often did not have the skills to do the job well.
“The teacher’s field performances do not reflect the content of their degree paper, like explaining simple maths fractions to pupils on chalk boards” Gelinde said, suggesting that
teachers should further their education to Bachelor’s and Master’s levels.
“We needed to fix the declining academic status of education system in Morobe before it’s late,” Gelinde said.
In another issue, Morobe provincial acting village court officer Reuben Ason said schools in Morobe should give first chance to students from Morobe.
“Why are secondary school principals not accepting our students from local primary schools and instead accepting and enrolling students who transfer in from outside provinces?” he asked.
Ason said that the second term has begun and yet most local students have not found a place in secondary schools.