Tabar: 28pc of people have tertiary qualifications

 MINISTER for Higher Education Malakai Tabar has clarified that 28.38 per cent of people in the country have tertiary qualifications.

He told Parliament yesterday that the two per cent quoted in a report in The National on Monday was wrong.

He said that between 2007 and 2014, there was an increase of secondary schools from 82 to a 129.

In 2013, a total of 17,460 Grade 12 students sat for the national examinations. Tabar said 4600 were selected to tertiary institutions last year.

This year, there were 5628 Grade 12s selected from last year’s 19,828 who sat for the exam.He said scholarships were   increased by 21.97 per cent and higher institutions grew from 26 in 2007 to 30 last year.

“We have got some very good plans, unfortunately, we have some very important events coming up in the country and we only got a budget allocation of K62.5 million for 2015,” he said.  

He thanked the Government for funding higher learning institutions but said the amount was not enough.

“The six universities, which include Pacific Adventist University and Divine Word University … this money is not enough for all of them. Unfortunately, we have to work around this budget,” he said. 

Tabar said the Government would like to see all 89 districts have an open university centre each.