Working the land

I AM sure the Malahang Technical High School principal sought professional advice about upgrading his school to a technical secondary school.
The pathway to upgrade and prepare students for university study is available in this scheme.
But what concerns me is that this approach will not easily create opportunities for jobs because there are no jobs available for higher degrees but there are jobs available for students with necessary technical skills to go back home and till the land.
I have been advocating for schools to develop technical skills that allow our school leavers to return to the village to till the land.
The wealth we are looking for is in the land and if we want to create health and wealth we must encourage our young people to go back to the village.
The village as it was in the 1980s is different today.
More and more people are working hard to change life in the village.
I believe our best effort to change the direction of our county is to focus education on agriculture and to encourage school children to believe in working the land. It is misleading to think that providing more secondary
education to our children will bring the changes they need in life.
I am not against secondary education but more and more people have this mistaken belief that secondary education holds the only key to a better future.

Joseph Geparo
Lae