Treat teachers well, education standard will improve: Teacher
By JIMMY KALEBE and PATRICIA KEAMO
A TEACHER says the standard of education will only change when the welfare and working condition of teachers are prioritised by the Education Department.
Badihagwa Technical Secondary School principal Maru Bala said during celebrations for the International Teachers Day yesterday the Government continued to talk about improving the standard of education but ignore the plight of teachers.
“Teachers are the architects of the education system yet our conditions remains the same year in and year out.
“Unless and until teachers’ conditions are improved, our education standard will never improve,” Bala said.
He said more attention should be given to teachers’ accommodation and pay.
Badihagwa has 59 teachers but only 20 staff quarters.
So some teachers had to find accommodation elsewhere.
“We have no (proper) accommodation allowance.
“The only housing allowance we receive is the K70 (per fortnight) which has been in place since the colonial days,” he said.
“How can we attract good teachers to come into the school and improve the standard of education when there are no houses to accommodate them?” He said some new teachers had been working without pay for almost 10 months now.
One of them, Serah Loi-Nou said: “I have been teaching without pay for almost eight months now. I haven’t heard anything why I’m without pay.”
Meanwhile, teachers in the Wampar local level government of Huon Gulf gathered at the LLG headquarters in Nadzab to celebrate.
7 comments
off course teachers are backbones of this country and their welfare and working conditions should be prioritized by the education department. Some teachers are teaching without pay while others sleep out of the school. Hence these factors contributes to the learning of the students meaning some teachers do not go for class and these are the reasons. Remember! In a very remote place you will never find a lawyer, an accountant, doctor or an engineer.The only profession you’ll find is teachers, because teachers dealt to serve human. They impart skills, knowledge and values in a child who is born lexically blank. Therefore teachers must be respected and their welfare must be prioritized.
Poor living and working condition is a real cause of concern in many schools throughout PNG. We continue to put pressure on these people to improve the standard of learning and teaching but forgot this aspect of life that promotes the other. We need to put extra efforts into the school infrastructure and learning aids to improve learning.
Education Minister J Yopiypoi (even former Minister Nick Kuman) and Education Sec Uke Kombra keep talking about improving standards of education in PNG, yet they never talk about how to improve teachers living and working conditons and give teachers a fair go or pay rise of more. How do you expect our hard working teachers to perform well when they are unhappy and not living well. The lousy K6 housing allowance is a real joke and mockery on our teachers. Governement needs to get real with teahers!
Incompetent Minister’s and govt. Talk! That’s all they do year in, year out. Teachers welfare is an important part to getting a quality in education of our future. A classroom and students are nothing without a teacher!!
Very true and sad scenario. Teachers plight must be addressed. However teachers must also be trained with the times, this is the 21st century, teaching standards must be changed. Fine example is when I hear teachineachers speaking tok pidgin in class is frustrating knowing English is taught in class and not pidgin.
Teachers ongpong poor welfare, housing and working conditions and other issues have been in existence since independence. No Government of the past till now have dare to address teachers housing issues. If only Government could increase teachers K6 housing allowance to K200 per fortnight for would be great. While pther public servants enjoy their luxury of accommodation and having a work car which in the towns and cities teachers don’t yet their little salary is tax again.
I, also agree with all the comments made because I’ve seen in the remote Place’s some of our Good Teachers was not accommodated well they find they own way to accommodated themselves it’s not good there’re the backbone of our Country and there are Missionaries so Please Government with Education Departments Please look into their on going Problems and shorted out Once and our Education Standard will be improve to next level, when Our Teachers Problems solved.
Comments are closed.