Quality education vital for PNG

TEETHING problems in the education system at the beginning of each year are nothing new and are to be expected.
But for the sake of our children, these problems, some of which are recurring ones, need to be sorted out quickly before classes start.
This is important to avoid disruptions to classes early in the academic year which can be distracting and stressful for students. It can also be traumatic for those entering the learning environment for the first time.
The Government has placed a lot of emphasis on education as reflected in its free-education policy and its allocation of the biggest chunk of the national Budget to it.
This is positive given the low level of literacy in the country, and the need to have an educated population to enhance national development and economic growth.
This is the catalyst needed to raise the standard of living, especially in rural and remote areas, pulling up and pushing forward people still stuck in the old ways of thinking and living.
It is good to see more children enrolled in schools than ever before because of the Government’s tuition fee-free policy.
But there are some school-aged children who cannot attend classes because of various reasons such as the lack of access to schools because of where they live, lack of parental support and other family problems.
Perhaps making education compulsory can accelerate the whole process of lowering the nation’s illiteracy rate.
It will be a bit hard at first to manage and enforce given the remoteness of some villages but it certainly is something worth thinking about now as part of the development of the education system.
This is the 43rd year of Independence and while the education system is evolving and working towards an effective and efficient model to adopt, recurring problems each year are a worry.
They show that education administrators fail or just do not bother to fix problems so they do not recur the following school year.
It should not be happening.
Basic things such as teacher postings, fees to be levied clarified with parents, getting classrooms ready, ensuring water and power supplies are working and toilets cleaned are ignored until after classes start.
There is also the determination of fees to be paid by students which at times delay the start of classes or hold back some students.
We recently watched the country’s largest university and the State eyeballing each other over which funding level is needed to run the campus operations this year.
There is also some development at the University of Technology in Lae which may affect the start of lectures this semester.
Some teachers and students are yet to confirm which schools they will be in this year.
Of course the system cannot be totally perfect. But the least education administrators can do is avoid disruptions, minimise distractions or things which will divert attention away from the core responsibility of providing our children their right to education – quality education to be specific.
Classes in schools start next Monday followed by the tertiary institutions. Each of us needs to make it a duty to support it for our collective good.
Education is so important in our lives and in development that losing our focus on it will cost us a lot in the long run.