UOG gears up for education meet

The National Weekender

By ISAAC LIRI
IMAGINE a teacher working in the rural mountains of Eastern Highlands and a teacher in the heart of the city Port Moresby.
At the end of the day they both are in the same profession, however the challenges they face at their work places are quite different considering the environments surrounding them.
In such specific scenarios, teachers end up applying different methods of teaching to blend in with their environment and in certain situations it may seem unorthodox when we try to relate with the existing education policies that are guiding teachers.
These are day to day challenges for educationists and in reality the experiences are diverse which result in different challenges that of course require different policies to be implemented.
During the launching of the 2019 National Education Conference at the University of Gorokaon Oct 30, academics gave speeches briefly indicating these challenges.
According to John Hagoiya, the chairman of the National Education Conference organising committee, the conference will provide a suitable forum where teachers, policy makers and all within the circles of education brainstorm ideas on how to tackle their challenges.
“What’s happening now is that people are saying their views in the newspaper and social media and these are inappropriate forums,” Hagoiya said.
“That is why we must have the National Education Conference so that people can share their views so issues will be addressed collectively.
“In this conference policy makers in education and teachers are able to come together and participate in discussions, the conference provides that right avenue.
During the launch, Hagoiya also made a call to all schools nationwide to starting preparing for the conference.
“In preparation, the schools and even stakeholders must start budgeting and appoint representatives to attend the conference.
“Those that attend the conference will participate in discussions and when they go back to their respective schools or offices, they will apply what they pick up.
“It will also provide an opportunity for everyone to understand a common objective where we can work together in education.
“Issues such as the education curriculums like the Standard Based Curriculum will be addressed and feedbacks will be suggested on how to improve now and in the future.
“There are many challenges that teachers are facing today with the current curriculum so all these can be highlighted in the conference.
“For instance teachers in the rural areas of Telefomin face different challenges altogether than teachers in a city like Port Moresby.
“Therefore such a conference will help us to formulate policies that will deal with the diverse issues teachers face in the country.
UOG acting Vice Chancellor Donald Gumbis who attended the launch to unveil the official logo, said the hosting of the conference will uphold the university’s good reputation of hosting conferences.
“In 2013 we hosted the National Sorcery Conference which attracted many participants from government and non-government organisations,” Gumbis said.
“In 2014 we hosted our media conference, unfortunately in 2015 and 2016 we didn’t host anything because of the unrest.
“But we went full swing in 2017 hosting the International Agriculture Conference and the International Linguistic Conference and this year we hosted the Climate Change Conference.
“We are currently going through changes in our education system so it is timely to host the conference to help modify our education curriculum,” Gumbis added.
It was announced during the launching that K50,000 will be allocated to host the National Conference scheduled for next Sept 18-20.

  • Isaac Liri is a freelance journalist.