EDUCATION has been one of the key development programmes of the Government since taking office in 2012, National Planning and Monitoring Minister Charles Abel says. Abel said this last Friday when addressing staff and students at the Balob Teachers College in Lae, Morobe. The Minister and EU Ambassador to the country Ioannis Giokarakis-Argyropoulos were in Lae to jointly launch a number of EU-funded projects at the college. “Our government has spent a lot of time and effort into education,” Abel said. “And we are proud that we are increasing year by year the percentage of the budget that is going into education. “And this percentage at this time is 13 per cent of the annual budget. “Part of that increase, of course, is the much-talked-about free education policy which we are spending some K602 or K603 million a year.” Abel said apart from the tuition fee-free (TFF) funds the Government has provided other funding assistance to schools. He said an example was with the K5 million funding allocation to each of eight teachers colleges in the country. “This Government is making education much more accessible,” Abel said. “There’s a million primary and secondary school students accessing education because of the free education policy. “But the issue we are facing is the quality of this education. “You can pack 45 students into a class and say they are having access to education but what is the quality of that education. “Forty-five students per teacher is simply not acceptable. “Our Government is really aware of this issue. “So we need to train more teachers but not only more teachers but quality teachers.” He said because of the Government’s TFF policy, the number of girls accessing education has increased over the past few years. “Once you put the free education into the pockets of parents as well you have a lot of money that is coming down and circulating in the economy,” Abel said. He said under the Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) the Government aimed to build one elementary school per ward, one primary school per zone of six to eight wards, and at least one high school per local level government. “This Government is trying very hard to bring development down to rural PNG,” Abel said. “And I want to tell you that education is at the heart of it. “It is a commitment that the Prime Minister made and we are stuck to it despite difficult circumstances and we will continue to deliver it.”
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Papua New Guinea education news services: Get Free Webpage for your School. Send us your School Profile now
>> STUDY IN PNG Follow PNG Online School |