Teachers: Appoint board

 By ELIAS LARI

THE Papua New Guinea Teachers’ Association (PNGTA) branch in the Highlands is calling on Education Minister James Marape to confirm the appointment of a National Education Board (NEB).

Association Highlands regional president John Melson said there was still no board in place to address issues concerning teachers.

“There are some issues that are not supposed to be discussed at the divisional level,” Melson said.

The previous national education board’s term expired last year and 10 months later, important issues are not discussed at the national level.

Melson said his office was concerned with the long delay of appointing legal national board members.

“This office understands that it is more than 10 months with no proper board in place to address issues affecting the education institutions and policy issues,” he said.

“Serious issues need the attention of the national education board as the supreme authority of the national education system.”

Melson said Marape and the education secretary must address the issue as soon as possible as the Association Highlands regional branch was receiving complaints from its members in the region.

“Such sensitive issues include the approval of the new national education institutions that are coming up in the region, while some national institutions are going through difficulties,” Melson said.

He said the Outcomes-Based Education curriculum, which the government has ordered to be done away with, needed the national education board to deliberate on and see the progress of a new curriculum.

Melson said the government’s top priority was education but the national education system was at stake without a national education board in place.