The University of Papua New Guinea SRC led illegal boycott of classes last week was in conflict of their own constitution that calls for a referendum to be conducted before cancelling classes.
They reacted to what their Unitech SRC colleagues were doing and illegally barricaded all lecture rooms and staff offices. They held the UPNG in ransom for one week, demanding that Prime Minister Peter O’Neill step down without even having a clear communication strategy to achieve their objectives. They infringed on both the students’ and staffs’ rights to attend to their classes and work. The SRC demanded that the Prime Minister or his delegate come to UPNG and receive their petition. Upon realising that O’Neill was not at hand to receive their petition, they refused to deliver the petition. Why did they specifically demand the PM to physically receive the petition when Minister responsible for higher learning institutions was on hand to receive it? The SRC president reneged on his request for the Prime Minister or his delegate to receive the petition. According to the UPNG Senate decision, the student boycott from May 2 to May 6 was deemed illegal since both the staff and students were intimidated and coerced to stop classes and work. The Senate ordered that students immediately return to classes on Monday, May 9. However, most of the genuine students and staff who turned up for classes and work found out that selfish individuals forcefully locked classrooms and offices and had broom sticks pushed into their locks. How childish are these few rogue students who are preventing classes and work from resuming? The students have made our intention known to the public that we demand respect for the rule of law. Therefore, the SRC should liaise with the Ombudsman Commission, Transparency International, Community Coalition Against Corruption to push their case. Let us not keep national issues to ourselves at the demise of our studies. Through such alliances we can collectively educate the public on institutional corruption in PNG. We should also return to classes and find better solutions to the problems and challenges that PNG faces. Logical Thinking Port Moresby
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THE policy of free education has given the privilege to all students to attend school.
On the other hand, the policy has provided limitations to many schools around the nation in terms of space availability, human resource and learning materials among others. It is not surprising to note that many schools close to the city face much bigger problems then the rural schools. One of the schools in the Rigo district is Saroakeina primary school. The grade four class has more than 70 students and the class was divided into two, 4As schooling under their teacher’s house and 4Bs were allocated a classroom. Students having classes under a house totally contravenes the welfare of students and the teacher. The ground is wet most times due to rain and the household pouring water from the kitchen. The ground is uneven and only few desks were jagged for few students to sit on while the rest sit on the ground in that unhygienic condition whole day. The school administration is doing its best but the board of management is opposing most decisions and turning a blind eye on that situation. They assume that everything is fine whilst there is a very big problem according to my observation. The problems are ranging from no classrooms to learning materials, such as text books, library books, reading books, attendance record books, stationeries for teachers and students desks among others. Another serious matter that requires everybody to cooperate to address that issue is the attitude of students. They can even use obscene language against their fellow students in front of their teachers, not coming on time to school. This requires immediate Parents and Citizens (P&C) meeting to discuss such issues. Nonetheless, the community is seen relaxed, assuming that everything is fine and postponing P&C meetings whilst busy with church activities. The new double classroom recently completed that could accommodate the grade fours class. The board decided for Rigo MP Ano Pala to officially open it before using it, as he funded that project. Pala is just doing his mandatory obligation with due consideration of the education of his future leaders for his district. They are entitled to sit in that classroom, free from disturbance rather than under a house, full of disturbance with unhygienic condition. The change for tomorrow begins now, not tomorrow. Tekk Kevin, Via email TWO Papua New Guinean students will live with an Indonesian family for two weeks to experience their culture.
A total of 10 students from St Joseph International College and the Institute of Christian Academy sat for a Bahasha test at the Indonesian Embassy to qualify for the event. “The event is to promote Indonesian culture for children in secondary schools in different countries,” Indonesia Embassy official Dr Sedercor Melatunan said. “One girl and one boy will be selected to be in Indonesia for about seven days. “They will be living with an Indonesian family, who were already selected in terms of their Bahasha, living standard and understanding of Indonesian culture.” The two Papua New Guinean students will join others from Australia, Brunei, Darussalam, Laos, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Fiji, India, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Institute of Christian Academy principal Richard Lan said Bahasha was an elective to their normal courses and was introduced this year. “We have now slotted Bahasha which is taught for 40 minutes on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays,” he said. “Now we are offering it as an elective for Grades 8 to 12. “We want our students to be exposed to different cultures so they easily fit into (them).” International Christian Academy school captain Cassandra Cullen said Bahasha was easy to learn and students were excited to learn it as it was new to them. I WANT to comment on a statement by acting education adviser for Morobe Keith Jiram (The National, April 4).
Jiram has criticized the adults who are benefiting from the government’s free-tuition-fee. I am totally against this criticism. We all know that access to formal education is one of the rights of the citizens regardless of age, gender, race and religious differences. Education (formal) is mostly demanded by the people of this nation. I am arguing Jiram’s criticism for the following reasons: 1. Informal Education Services are not equally and effectively provided. For example, FODE. This mode of education service is the country does not deliver equal or quality education services. I have seen parents and students complaining about FODE not delivering appropriate services to the students. FODE materials such as student resource book, transcripts/certificates are mostly delayed 2. Education is for everyone regardless of age, gender, race and religious difference. As far as I know, rights to education is one of the goals of the UN Declaration of Human Rights 3. Government of this country is the government of all citizens of this country. Whatever services whether in education, health, agriculture or whatsoever, all people must have the privilege to access and use them and free tuition fee education is one those services provided by the government to the people. Sky Bobeng, Via email I WAS much impressed to read a good letter yesterday about the importance of math as a subject of science and technological development (The National, April 13).
Let me express my view on how and why the majority of students in Papua New Guinea ranging from primary and secondary schools to universities and colleges are finding difficulties in understanding the basic concepts of math. Everything starts from the basics. Any subject such as math, English and science have their basics concepts which students must fully understand before moving on to complex ones. Many times I see students ignoring or misunderstanding the basic concepts of these subjects and as the result they score low grades. Another issue is the quality of education the teachers get. It means how well the teachers are educated and trained in our existing universities such as the University of Goroka and the University of Papua New Guinea as well as the Balob and Madang teachers’ colleges. There must be an updated teachers’ curriculum material that keeps in line with the current state of technological development so that teachers can be competent in their jobs . Another crucial issue is the curriculum material for students. All curriculum material must be available for students to use. Failure of the Government authorities and schools to provide these curriculum materials will result in students lacking the knowledge and understanding of subjects like math and science. There is growing concern about students’ incompetency in subjects such as math, English and science, which is the result of incompetent teachers and the lack of curriculum materials needed to teach students. The Education Department must look at ways to resolve this issue by providing quality education for the both the students and teachers. Ryan Osara Lae I WRITE in response to the announcement by the Education Department to recruit Indian mathematics and science teachers to teach in the Southern Highlands Province.
It is well-known that teachers from India in this field are genuinely qualified and while I do not doubt their capabilities in helping to educate our children, I am concerned about the negative aspects of this plan. It seems that Education Secretary Dr Uke Kombra is turning a blind eye on our jobless and supressed nationals who can be better utilised. After 40 years of independence, Papua New Guinea has enough qualified mathematics and science teachers to fill these positions. Hundreds of engineering and science graduates are still in the queue waiting for job interviews. One such graduate complained that nepotism was taking precedence over academic merit so some of them are still waiting for jobs offers. And every year this queue is getting longer and longer and the numbers of our school leavers are skyrocketing. It is a right for every citizen of PNG to receive quality education and for the country to develop a human resource bank. For this reason our government has invested heavily in education but what plans do we have in place at the end of this processing line to absorb this social pressure? I once asked a chemistry graduate if he liked teaching and he replied instantly with a ‘yes’. So teaching can release a little of this pressure. I believe these two suggestions would be highly beneficial for the country.
Tingim PNG Pastaim, Via email I SUPPORT Deputy Education Secretary Godfrey Yerua for revealing the truth about quality education.
A well-educated and trained teaching professional will deliver the greatest transformation in our schools and colleges. For instance, qualified teachers in science or mathematics can teach well even without good teaching resource materials. They will not need science laboratory equipment for practical lessons when the abundant forest, the rain, the water, the plants, and the food we eat and the animals we look after can be integrated to provide an immense wealth of scientific knowledge never found in any science classrooms. Moreover, effective science and mathematics teaching will create students’ interest and talents when lessons begins with the familiar and move on to the unfamiliar. Contrary to the above, schools in PNG are yet to witness the quality of education delivered in the classroom ever since independence. The course programmes developed and delivered by teachers colleges remains outdated and substandard. For instance, science and mathematics courses developed and delivered at teachers colleges are equivalent to grade 7 and 8 math and science courses taught at the primary schools. The Education Department must clean up the mess before we can talk about quality education in this country. Ken Nandawa, Via email EDUCATION Secretary Dr Uke Kombra’s aim to scrap the Grade 8 and 10 examinations is not a good idea.
In a newspaper article last week (Oct 15), he was noted as saying that if the policy was implemented that would be a massive improvement in the education system. As a former teacher in the sciences and mathematics, I do not know what that improvement is all about - and I doubt it as a step forward for our country. That bit has to be clarified. If that no-exam policy is suggested by the Government of the day in a bid to cut down the costs involved in administering exams (and stop cheating in exams), then it is another poor call by political leaders who still do not know how we can give the very best to our children so that our system can be on par with (or closer to) other better education systems in the world. I made a similar appeal to a former secretary who also thought about doing the same when the now-rejected Objectives-Based Education (OBE) curriculum was used by the department. Firstly, if the scrapping of exams is seen as an exercise to avoid discriminating students, as in labelling students as having passed or failed, then that is trying to ignore the fact that students are different, in abilities and interests. So, exams enable us to identify who is good at what. When you think about it, only some of the tens of thousands of students would be able to cope with certain studies - like pilot training, engineering, medical surgery, rocket science or even the training of an astronaut. Exams help show those who can handle concepts that are taught in the training of future specialised professionals. Secondly, the exercise of sitting exams is in itself an integral part of higher education, and general education for that matter. Technical training also includes exams to evaluate the skills of apprentice technicians. Some students do well in their term or monthly tests but fail big time in their final exams. If we scrap exams, would we be helping in better preparing students for the future? Students in universities and colleges the world over do exams - it is part of academic life. In some cases, some universities have students sit their own placement tests - or entrance exams. Those who pass get enrolled to start on a degree programme. Those who fail will be asked to enroll for other courses to upgrade their general knowledge in literacy or numeracy. That means they will pay a little extra than their friends who passed and will be a year or two behind the rest of their peers. Are we helping our children face the future better by scrapping exams? Look at Australia, USA and United Kingdom. Do not be blind to what is happening globally. What sort of challenges are they facing? Are they scrapping exams? If so, why? Thirdly, in the event that a parent wants his/her child to switch to another curriculum - within PNG or abroad - will the child fare well? In some systems, exams are vital and (as would be expected) have a greater weighting in their assessment and final grading. Fourthly, in many specialised fields, like pilot training, students sit for an exam-like entry test. The candidates will also be asked to produce their certificates and exam grades. If they do not have an indication of how well they have done in the science, maths and English, how will the pilot school take them on? It would be proper for Kombra to get views from university and college lecturers and firms that employ school leavers about this proposed policy. Those educators and employers often feel the pain and frustration more of teaching students coming through a system that does not equip them better for tertiary learning. Kombra must also remember that a change in the secondary and primary levels will in a decade have drastic effects on the performance of students at the tertiary level. Lecturers said that the old curriculum which was scrapped and replaced with OBE was a bad decision by former decision makers. Now we are taking on board the once-scrapped curriculum, as if we are going in circles. Be careful with what you do. PNG Tauna Port Moresby I find it really sickening when I read and hear about teachers stranded with their Christmas entitlements every end of the year.
Teachers have measurable outputs that can be measured annually unlike many other public servants who incurred millions of kinas annually without any tangible measurable outputs. If public servants are to be enumerated on measurable outputs basis, perhaps teachers and health workers may have something to show case than most public servants who clock-in and clock-out every day in their comfort chairs without any measurable outputs. PNG’s only social indicator under UNDP Millennium Development Goals that shows some improvements is universal primary education, and while policy makers can be given credits for that, the actual implementers are teachers. Teachers work after hours and during weekends to prefer lessons and mark assigns and tests. They also have extra curricula in disciplining children, health and sports. So who better than teachers that should be well enumerated in the public service? My understanding is that teachers in many other countries are in fact highly paid public servants, and that goes for health workers and police as well. I therefore call on the appropriate authorities to sack those irresponsible administrators who caused unnecessary sufferings to teachers every year. Send these irresponsible officers back home to help educate their children and those of their own communities. G. Gowae UPNG, Waigani JOEL Nawa’s clarification on the rights of teachers is long overdue.
The education department is the worst managed department which continuously deprives teachers of their many rights guaranteed under the constitution. The Teaching Services Commission (TSC), as our employer needs to do a lot more for the teachers. Day in and day out, teachers come in from all over, some out of town at their own expense to congregate at Fincorp Haus and fight for their entitlements. What should be automatically done is never done. In 1988, I taught at Tonu high school in the then North Solomon’s province, when the Bougainville crisis broke out. This was an act of war which saw 15, 000 lives lost. On November 28 of that year, I was shot by the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA). Though critically injured, I was one of the few lucky ones to survive and flew out of the province. Over the course of the years, I did more than my share for the development of human resources in PNG sending seven students in my grade 12 home class of 12 Line 5 to UPNG in 2010 from Bugandi secondary school in Lae city. In 2013, I “retired on medical grounds” due to a minor stroke. After my shooting to this date, I have never been offered advice to claim compensation under the workers compensation act by the education department. The Education Department, through its agents and servants, failed miserably to advise me of my rights to claim compensation for my injuries. How many teachers like me have been denied of their rights all over the country? Definitely Papua New Guinea Teaching Commission is failing the teachers and their rights. Tommy Yep Lae |
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