Prof gives PNG context to business education

By BEVERLY PETER
KNOWLEDGE or information in today’s world is the most tangible and important resource that bring about successes in almost all expects of life as the proverb says “knowledge is power.”
Thought it is the most tangible resource available with no depreciation, it can only be reused for thousands of years when that knowledge is told and kept in some form to be accessible. One can know and do too much but only few takes time to express that knowledge available in some forms such as books and documentary for others’ benefits.
With that in mind, the head of accounting division in the School of Business and Public Policy at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), and the senior lecturer in accounting, Professor Banditha Bandara from Sri Lankan have recently published a textbook titled Business Studies Grade 11, the 11th such publication by Bandara.
He had been in the country for 21 years, and apart from his anonymous other contribution to the country, he wrote 11 business studies text books for secondary school students which are widely used in the country.
“When I came here in 2002, there were no text books in accounting to suite our students,” Prof Bandara said.
“The books used were either published in United Kingdom or Australia and I found that they were not suitable for our students.”
This had motivated him to write PNG based text books for his students in universities to use. One titled Introductory Accounting for Papua New Guinea was his first.
“This book gained popularity among the students and lecturers and is now in sixth revised edition, printed seven times.”
Which means 7,000 copies had been sold out.
This book is widely used in universities including Solomon Island University, business colleges, technical colleges and other higher educational and training institutes.
“As a results of the education reforms (OBE) new subjects such as accounting and business studies have been introduced, but there were no text books for teachers to teach and students to read.”
Seeing how desperate PNG is in terms of text books, he was motivated to write more. The following are books written by Pandara
Accounting for Grade 11
Accounting for Grade 11 Q& A

Accounting for Grade 12
Economics Grade 11
Economics for Grade 12
Business Studies 9
Business Studies 10
Some of these publications are Oxford University Press publications.
Banada’s other books are “Company Accounting for Papua New Guinea’ and ‘Foundation of Accounting.’
He teaches accounting courses for business and accounting students ranging from first year to final year at UPNG.
About his latest book “Business Studies Grade 11” he said that the non-availability of standard textbooks in business studies for grade 11 since the introduction of this subject had caused considerable difficulty for both teachers and students for effective teaching and learning.
“The primary objective for this book is to provide a comprehensive standard textbook of Papua New Guinea origin that provides an in-depth coverage of the syllabus.”
The book comprises of four units included in the syllabus and divided into nine chapters in a logical sequence to facilitate effective teaching and learning. Each chapter begins with a syllabus reference, content, learning objectives and keywords.
The topics covered by the book chapters are:
Preparing for feature
The nature of business
The legal forms of business
The key business function.
The business environment
The nature of organisation.
The nature of management.
The business set-up and management.
Small business management.
The book also provides the definition of key words within the text and chapter summary for quick reference together with short questions for revision.
Bandara said the short answer questions and multiple choice questions set in the book were exam-type questions and attempting to this may help during actual exams.
He said this because he was also involved in setting business studies exams and marking of it.
“I have no doubt that this Business Studies Grade 11 book will help both students and teacher for their intended purpose.”
Prof Bandara does not just stop at teaching business studies to student in high schools and secondary through text books and lecture accounting courses to university students; he is further involved in overseeing them becoming certified accountants in the country.
“I came to PNG in 2002 and by February, this my 21st year in the country.”
“The university I am attached to seeks my services and I am willing to give my expertise to PNG students and the community as they value my service. I am fully satisfied with the work I do, the contribution I make to the higher education in this country, particularly accounting education and the profession.”
During his time here, he taught about 15,000 students indirectly (through books and YouTube videos) and directly (lecturing).
His contribution to education department particularly accounting education was recognised by the Government and he was awarded Member of Logohu (ML) in 2017.
In 2018 he was honoured and appointed as honorary consul for Sri Lanka in PNG by the Sri Lanka Government and their Department of Justice appointed him as a commissioner of oaths.
Apart from contributing in education, Bandara has also been president of the Sri Lanka Papua New Guinea Friendship Foundation for a while and making donations and contributions in the community through that foundation.

“With all these recognitions why should I leave this country in a hurry? I am compelled to do more for the country.”
He said schools have been purchasing his text books for students and teachers’ use but with the introduction of tuition fee free policy, schools rarely purchased books.
“They purchase one copy for the entire school and either make photocopies or write the summary of the chapters on the board for teaching. Under these circumstances there must be a mechanism to supply textbooks to schools.”
He added that the best solution would be for the education department to buy the text books in bulk and distribute them to the schools.
Given the extent of his involvement in education in the country, the professor said education standards in PNG are comparatively not very high in many respects.
He said this was because of many factors such as trouble fights, schools closing down due to this, no proper books, teachers not full time in the classroom, students affected due to parents’ issues and so many other things.
“But over the period education standards have been improved in some respects. In general, the curriculum is ok but execution is the issue.
“Textbooks are the backbone of education. Without proper text books, learning will not take place as expected.”
He said the education department set objectives and aims to achieve after completing a particular subject in a particular grade.
“These objectives and aims are set through the syllabus and examiners like myself set question papers to check whether the students have achieved the objectives and aims.”
As we know, the same exam questions are set for all students in the country.
Banadara said students were only able answer the exam questions if they have covered the syllabus.
“It may happen only if a standard text book is used. Therefore, it is important each student should reach a standard text book to complete the academic aspects of education.”
He said students who learn business studies had practical lessons of business planning, cash forecasts, basic book keeping, banking, bank reconciliation, cash management etc. Therefore, they are equipped with financial literacy knowledge.
“Business studies is a very useful subject offered by the school system.”
Prof Bandara is currently writing two books at the same time which are expected to be completed by the end of this year.
One is for grade 11 and one is on London examinations.
These could be made compulsory subject in lower to upper high school so if they didn’t make it into a tertiary institution, they could use that knowledge to be self-employed and start up small businesses.