THE Government will pay full tuition fees for students attending elementary preparatory to Grade 12 schools, flexible and open distance education, vocational centres and inclusive education resource centres this year.
The Department of Education has deposited almost K197 million into the Bank of Papua New Guinea. This will be transferred to three commercial banks for tuition fees for the 8,419 schools in the country. The tuition fee free money was deposited on Feb 6. There will be two payments made to cover the total fees. The public was informed of the first disbursement last week and was advised that no student was to be sent home from school for non-payment of project fees. The maximum project fees set by the National Education Board is K200. Below is the list of maximum tuition fees set by the education board which the government will be paying to the schools for each student:
Parents, guardians and community leaders are urged to monitor how the money is being spent. Board of management chairspersons and head teachers are advised to meet with their provincial and district education advisors regularly to show that the money is being used correctly and for the purpose it is intended for. Parents and guardians are asked to note that other fees charged by approved schools are their responsibility as well. MINISTER for Education Nick Kuman is calling on more donor agencies to work with the Government for effective delivery of projects in the country.
When commending the European Union (EU) for supporting education in boosting teachers’ training in PNG, he said the union had contributed greatly towards quality outcome of teacher training. “The teacher training programme, which is funded by EU, has supported the teachers from the remote schools in PNG over the term of the project. “This is in support of the department’s vision to train 6000 teachers throughout the country,” Kuman said. “EU will take away some of our burdens but we have a big task to train a lot more teachers in the next five years to ensure that universal basic education in our development agenda is fulfilled.” Kuman said the department wanted a holistic approach to the entire education system where the government and donor agencies could work side by side to provide quality education. He said one of the things the department was embarking on was bringing quality teacher training education. He said the government wanted to see that money from the donor agencies was well spent because donors could use it as measurement for other beneficial projects in the country. THE Institute of Business Studies has extended its wings this year by including New Ireland schools in the schools debate.
This was made possible by the New Ireland provincial government and the initiative of one of New Ireland’s elite Ken Kaiah, of the Government Printing Office in Port Moresby. The provincial government has committed K50,000 to support the IBS School Debates and Kaiah and the GPO have put in K50,000 to support the event in New Ireland. The number of New Ireland schools taking part is yet to be confirmed but Governor Sir Julius Chan expressed joy at being able to have such an informative educational forum in his province. IBS Debate coordinator Rose Gerari thanked Sir Julius for the invitation to facilitate the competition and his government’s commitment. “We wish to thank Ken Kaiah and Government Printing Office for sponsoring the debate,” Gerari said. THE Education Department must have a salary officer in all districts to address teachers’ salary problems, a teacher in a remote part of Morobe said.
Anton Yanamsa, a Grade Seven teacher at Keamu Primary School in Menyamya, Morobe, said that yesterday after he had to miss teaching and stayed three weeks in Lae just to pick up his spreadsheet. A spreadsheet, he said, is the equivalent of pay-slips in the new Alesco pay system used by the Education Department. Yanamsa said he had enquired at the provincial education office salaries section about his spreadsheet but the officers there told him that “the system was down”. “They have been telling me this for three weeks,” Yanamsa said. “I have not returned to Menyamya and my students are without a teacher. “We cannot deprive the innocent students of their education back at the village because of a simple spreadsheet.” Andrew Gena, the provincial chairman for education, said the issue raised by Yanamsa was serious. Gena, a former teacher of 25 years, said he would talk to the officer in charge of salaries at the provincial education office to see that the matter was resolved immediately. Yanamsa said he wanted three copies of his spreadsheet for his loan application with the Teachers Savings and Loan Society. “Teachers in rural parts of Morobe, like Menyamya and Kabwum, must be given priority and be served quickly so that they go back and teach,” he said. He said he had to walk two hours to the nearest bus stop to catch a PMV to Lae and pay K70. Yanamsa said he came to the media after he was frustrated of being told to “come and check again tomorrow.” THERE is no place for students involved in criminal activities in primary schools in Morobe, according to a provincial education official.
Naikuli Keith Tangui, the senior inspector of primary schools in Morobe, was reacting to a report of the attempted rape of a female teacher by a student in one of Lae’s primary schools. The incident is the latest in a number of cases involving primary and high school students in Morobe, who were involved in school fights and attacking teachers. The female teacher was approached by the Grade Seven male student who was under the influence of alcohol. The headteacher said the student approached the teacher in her office between 3pm and 4pm when other students had gone home. “He walked into her office and got behind her and said he wanted to talk to her,” the head teacher said. He said the boy told the female teacher he wanted to have sex with her. He said the teacher grabbed the boy and beat him up while calling for help. A male colleague nearby came to her aid. He said the student was later released because he said he was injured in an earlier incident at the Banana Block. “This boy lives next to the school premises,” the teacher said. “He is someone who has a bad behaviour record with the school. He goes around stirring up trouble in the school. “He is a sort of a peer leader in the school.” Female teachers at the school have raised their concern about their safety at the school. Tomorrow is World Media Freedom Day.
And, students at the University of Papua New Guinea celebrated the day today, ahead of the 3rd of March commemoration. Students mainly from the Journalism strand celebrated this important Day by organizing exhibitions, logo competition, quiz and other activities at the Waigani campus. To mark the Day, the Journalism Students Association launched their new logo. Managing Director of the National Broadcasting Corporation Memafu Kapera was given the honour of unveiling the logo, which was chosen through a logo competition. Mr. Kapera also pledged two-thousand five hundred kina to the Journalism Students Association. THE last batch of trainee teachers from a two-year diploma programme will graduate this year, Minister for Education Nick Kuman says.
Kuman said that during the European Union Commissioner for Development, Andris Pibalgs’ visit to the Scared Heart Teacher Training College yesterday. He said diploma training for teachers over three years began this year at training colleges. Kuman said it was important to extend teacher training to equip with them with sufficient knowledge to produce results in classrooms. “While we increased the number of years in teachers’ training, we also want to see an increase in enrolment in trainee teachers, so by 2019 we want an addition of 6,000 teachers,” he said. Kuman said there were additional subjects in the curriculum such as Information Communication Technology (ICT) to be introduced. He did not mention when the e-learning concept would be introduced in schools. Teachers are to benefit from a scholarship program funded by the European Union. 250 students have graduated under this program and the EU plan to grant an additional K12 million in funding.
In partnership with the Education Department, the funding will enable training of up to 650 primary school teachers, along with other forms of aid through the Human Resources Development Program, Phase 1 (HRDP1). The joint agreement was signed yesterday morning by the Education Minister and a representative from the European Union. Present was the European Union (EU) Commissioner for Development, Mr Andris Piebalgs, with his delegation, along with the Minister for Education, Mr Nick Kuman. The Minister commented on the current, devastating ratio of 35-40 students per teacher, and how the Department of Education is under continuous reform, directing their priorities towards quality teaching and ICT. The ICT program aims to provide internet access through all 89 districts, to enable ease of access, with the use of e-learning and e-libraries. Mr Piebalgs stressed the importance for high levels of aid, especially for PNG’s yearly 3% population growth, saying that unemployment and lack of education, leads to the violent street life. He said that any society worth its salt must be able to offer its young people real prospects, along with the chance to build a future for themselves and their families. Mr Piebalgs also said that their focus on teacher-training is an appropriate direction to begin with, as the quality of education, particularly for the younger kids, is very much dependant on the teacher; if the teacher is untrained or unmotivated, results are, therefore, poor. In addition to the teacher training program, 84 dormitories and 6 classrooms in Gaulim, Madang and Balop Teachers Colleges, are to be constructed under the EU-funded Human Resources Development Program Phase 1, along with development of training materials and capacity strengthening of the Department of Education. THE Minister for Education, Nick Kuman confirmed yesterday that the Outcomes-Based Education curriculum will be scrapped next year.
Kuman said the curriculum would be replaced with the Standard Based Education system. Parents and teachers had argued that the OBE curriculum resulted in students’ poor grades and this was supported by the Commission for Higher Education head Avia Kosen. Kuman did not elaborate on the exit of the OBE but said there were some issues he had to deal with. He said the OBE had created a huge problem. He said the Education Department would train more teachers to tackle the increasing number of students enrolled in schools. THE World Environment Day competition for National Capital District schools was launched yesterday.
Steamships had selected 20 schools to take part in three competitions that will end with the awards presentation on World Environment Day celebrations on June 5. Steamships has three competitions for the NCD primary and secondary schools. They are an essay competition, a debate competition and clean school competition. Essay and debate competitions will be based on climate change and its effects. The cleaning competition will be assessed on theme related activities – classroom health, energy efficiency, energy efficiency, waste management and housekeeping. Steamships Trading Company finance director Sean Pelling said: “We initiated the idea of schools competitions because we felt that the yearly World Environment Day had to be understood and instilled in young schoolchildren. “Steamships firmly believes that environmental education is one of the most effective ways to ensure that principles of environment sustainability are understood and adopted for future generations. “We want our young children to be aware of the impact of our actions on the environment so they can make better choices in the future.” Pelling said the competitions were based on this year’s theme “Raise your voices, not the sea level.” |
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