School leavers get a second chance

THE Port Moresby Maritime Training College is offering opportunities to school leavers who cannot find places at universities or colleges.
College president Gabriel Magyari said that over the years the college has enrolled 26,000 grade 12 and more than 60,000 grade 10 school-leavers.
“Only 10,000 of them get into universities and colleges,” he said.
“Students who are bright but who cannot get a space offer at universities and colleges are coming desperately to find places.
“So we want to tap in and say you want to come here we can train you in the maritime industry.
“We want to go a step further and say that while you are studying, we want to find your employment and you are going to go straight to a job after completing your studies.
“This is what we are working with the Chinese college because they need a lot of seafarers as well. Not only that but other shore-based disciplines as well.”
Magyari said they usually recruited around four batches of students a year with about 30 students in each batch.
Meanwhile, Samarai-Murua MP Henry Leonard said human resource development drives an industry. He was speaking at the signing of an agreement between Port Moresby Maritime Training College and China’s Zhejiang Maritime College for a training partnership.
“Currently I have three students from my electorate attending seafarers’ training,” Leonard said.
He said the world was getting smaller because of trade and technology and the shipping industry played an important role.
“Mobility is important in the trade industry where shipping also plays a significant role.”
But unlike anywhere else, he said the government still struggled to improve and provide the kind of service that everyone requires or needs.
“Human resource development is the key to any industry, whether it be shipping, mining, forestry or whichever industry, human resource is vital,” he said.
Leonard said his office spends K1 million in eduction.
“I will increase that amount next year to sponsor more of my young people that could not make it through tertiary institutions,” he said.