Provincial government commended for initiatives

 THE East New Britain provincial government has been commended for the initiative to affiliate its secondary schools with universities offering foundation studies.

Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology Malakai Tabar said he supported the provincial government’s initiative.

He told college principals at a meeting in Kokopo it was a way of looking after students who had qualified.

“We would like to admit GPA-qualified students into science foundation programmes,” Tabar said.

“We will organise for a science curriculum from the University of Papua New Guinea to be administered to all these schools or facilities.”

He said there were plans to recruit retired science teachers to tutor students. 

“We have got the facilities so now we must coordinator ourselves,” Tabar said.

He said the Department Secretary Professor David Kavanamur met provincial authorities recently.

“Each district in East New Britain  would allocate between K250,000 to K270,000 to support the initiative,” he said.

Because of the shortage of space in tertiary institutions to absorb the growing number of school leavers, East New Britain began to look for more options for higher education.

Tabar said the programme would see more students from the province enrolling in higher institutions around the country over the next few year and it was a right move by the provincial government.