Schools victims of bad policies

 THE failure in achieving quality outcomes for policy changes in the education sector remains a significant setback for Papua New Guinea.

The change from the Standard Base Curriculum (SBC) to the Outreach Based Education (OBE) in the 1990s is a fine example of such failures. 

The OBE was a failed system in other countries and appeared to be the same in PNG. 

PNG has witnessed these failures despite the millions of kina injected by  into the education sector.

This was followed by the introduction of top-up primary schools to accommodate grades 7 and 8.

However, continuous poor academic results displayed in the yearly exams in science, mathematics and English concluded that the system was failing to deliver. 

The reality is that many schools lacked qualified teachers, insufficient learning and teaching materials, in-sufficient school infrastructure, lack of staff development programmes and science laboratories, among others.

Before the department can talk about policy changes, the secretary and the minster must be totally sure that these will not have any negative impact 

It seems the  government is bulldozing through various significant policies changes to draw political support in preparation for the 2017 general elections without considering the future of our children.

Ken Nandawa, Via email