Spread the EQUITV message to all schools

 THE EQUITV initiative run by the Department of Education and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is highly commendable. 

It introduces to teachers and students to a multimedia format that enhances teaching and learning.

However, it is regrettable that only selected schools and teachers will benefit from this project.

If the national government is serious about quality education, why is it not supporting this project to ensure that all primary schools in PNG participate in it?

If the outcome of the project is having a positive impact on students’ academic performance, why can’t the national government roll it out to all schools? 

Teachers must be trained to use digital projectors and other multimedia equipment to improve their lesson presentations. 

School libraries are part and parcel of the school’s media programmes, but unfortunately, about 90% of PNG primary schools do not have adequate libraries to support teaching and learning. 

We must not forget that all our children have the right, under the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to have equal access to quality information and be literate. 

The government has a universal obligation towards the children of the country.

Moreover, information and communication technologies are rapidly changing the information landscape of the world. 

The EQUITV project could be a catalyst to launch related modes of information dissemination and access through the government’s public-private partnerships. 

Exposing our children in rural and urban schools to access information using digital technologies early on will greatly improve their ability to be independent learners.  

We cannot continue to depend on donor funding or aid anymore. 

If PNG is serious about quality education and wants its youth to be equal competitors in the globalised economy, we must invest in human resource development and be on par with the changes of the world. 

This means embracing and enhancing teaching and learning by going a step further through the introduction of information communications technology into the process. 

Jijiro Tubuna

Port Moresby