By Hon Richard Maru Yangoru Saussia District's focus on delivering quality and accessible education is set to change with a long-term focus on providing high quality education starting in the foundation years of the early childhood of a child in the village. The foundation for quality education is Early Childhood Learning (ECL) and at the village Elementary school. That’s why in Yangoru Saussia District, we invest in early childhood learning and elementary schools. Last Thursday (02/07/20), I officially opened the double classroom at Kufar Elementary School, funded by the YSDDA at a cost of K 100,000.00. THE KEY MESSAGES 1. CRITICAL FOUNDATION: A SHARED-RESPONSIBILITY Education starts from the womb. Parents, community and teachers are responsible for the five (5) stages of education – womb, early childhood / elementary, primary, high school and secondary school. We must lay a good foundation so we have smart kids from childhood, who will do well as they enter the formal school system from Grade 1 to 12 in our District School System. Early childhood learning and elementary schooling is the key foundation for quality education and lifelong learning of a child. That is why YSDDA has invested so much money in elementary schools in all our 96 wards. World over, Governments take this critical phase of education very seriously. Kids are taught by professionally trained teachers who are diploma and degree holders, specializing in early childhood learning, who prepare the kinds for the future. I challenged the school management, teachers and parents to ensure that our kids know how to read and write by the time they come out of the school. Our education dream is a shared-responsibility I expect every Yangoru Saussia parent to take ownership and prepare their kids for a better future. When parents teach kids to chew betel nut, smoke, drink steam, quarrel and fight, the kids will do the same. Parents must ensure their children eat nutritional food and have a safe home – which enhances better learning outcomes. 2. AN INDEPENDENT QUALITY ASSURANCE AUDIT Right now, the District does not know what quality of education is being offered by our elementary and early childhood schools in our communities. The YSDDA will fund an independent quality assurance audit to be undertaken by experts in the coming months which will inform the District of the number of both Government and Private early learning and elementary schools, teachers and their qualifications, learning facilities, teaching and learning materials, curriculum and syllabus and the community attitudes. The report by the experts will inform the District’s 5-Year Strategy to improve the quality of Early Childhood Learning and Elementary Educations systems in the District. 3. AN HOLISTIC APPROACH We have a big challenge of delivering quality education in the whole of East Sepik and Papua New Guinea. And the challenge is critical for schools in rural Districts like Yangoru Saussia, as they tend to do poorly compared to schools in urban centres. So we build roads, build better modern classrooms, teacher houses and improve law & order to make our District attractive for good teachers. We must have an holistic approach to education. I’ve kept track of students going to Universities and Higher Learning Institutions from our District and the number is 10! Yes, 10 and that’s only 1%! Just 1% of our students make it to institutions of higher learning through the normal selection system. That is totally unacceptable! It’s a serious problem and concern that has given me the passion and determination to place Education as the second top priority after God-First. Today we have built four (4) High Schools, three (3) Secondary Schools and one (1) School of Excellence. The District School of Excellence concept is my brainchild as the then Planning Minister, aimed at improving the quality of education at the rural District level. YS District is pioneering the trial of the concept. Phase 1 of our School of Excellence had its first intake of 60 students this year who concentrate on Science and Mathematics. Work has started on Phase 2 – School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Our kids must compete to get into the School of Excellence and compete with kids in East Sepik and rest of PNG to be in the 7000 that qualify to get into Universities and higher learning institutions. That starts from the foundation – Early Childhood Learning and Elementary. We must improve the education system and academic performance of our District. It is a long-term investment. For many years, education in the District have been neglected. Yangoru Saussia students who live outside of the District make it to Universities but not so much of those living in the District. In failing to invest in Education, we kill our rural families, communities and our future! Under my leadership, we are changing this for the better! 4. PNC GOVERNMENT’s TFF POLICY Eighty per cent (80%) of parents in rural PNG cannot afford to send all of their kids to school. Before TFF, only 50% of school-age kids were going to school. Education is a right for every child. We cannot deprive our children of their right to education. The PNC Government’s Tuition Fee Free (TFF) Policy is the best policy since 1975. The TFF policy has enabled major progress in increasing access and enrollment rates in schools by four-fold, particularly for girls. But the quality of education has already been on the decline over the past decades due to lack of investment in Education and policies like the Outcome Based Education (OBE). PNC Government’s TFF policy became a scapegoat. The quality issue is exacerbated by the lack of adequately trained teachers, poor conditions of schools, severe shortage of teaching and learning resources, inadequate learning institutions and facilities, lack of water and electricity, high rates of dropouts and equity issues related to opportunity provided to rural children. Even children who are attending schools are lacking skills in reading and mathematics, resulting in the decline in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education which a country needs to develop its full economic potential. Yes, we have a problem. That’s why you have leaders whom you elect to help provide solutions to the problem. The PNC-led Government, to compliment the TFF policy, had the DSIP policy. Every MP should utilize the K 3 Million DSIP funds earmarked for Education to support the Education Department by investing in Education. That’s why we must fund education infrastructures like classrooms and teacher houses through the DSIP Policy. Kufar Elementary School is one such school that has benefited from the DSIP Policy. PNC is the only Government that has policies that addresses the real needs of people in the villages. Whether in Government or Opposition, I will remain with the PNC Party because the Party is an institution that have policies that cares about the people. I will remain with PNC because I like the policies – it touches people right down to the rural areas like my YS District. 5. KNOWLEDGE IS OUR FUTURE ASSET The future of our country is not in oil, gas and gold but on the knowledge of our children. You want to build a nation, a rich nation for that matter, you build it on the back of education. As a country, we have the responsibility to invest in quality education. In Yangoru Saussia, we invest in quality education because it is the ladder to our future prosperity. Our vision is to have an educated and knowledgeable society. As long as I’m your leader, I will ensure that we empower our citizens, old and young, with knowledge and life-long learning so they can create wealth through the application of human knowledge and creativity, thereby adding value to their families, communities, our District, East Sepik and PNG. This will also prepare them to be global citizens. It’s a big dream and we’re just taking the first small steps of a thousand miles journey. We’ll see the fruits in 15 – 20 years time. Ipatas invested for 30 years and he’s now reaping the benefits. One day, our time will come. We will take our place in this country. We must not lose heart. Let’s keep plowing with focus and determination. Otherwise, we will lose our next generation. I deeply appreciate the school Board Chairman Java Samuel Pongira for his leadership and the Kufar community for a job well-done. I commend the quality work. I particularly note that they built these small beautiful desks for the kids and thank our new Ward Member Joe Hecko for a job well done. #GodFirst #TogetherWeCan #WokMasGoYet #ToktokMaskiActionTasol Note: Send us your Education Commentaries for publication on this site: Our email is : pngedunews@gmail.com Next : Mac Computers In A Remote School Computer Lab Share your Inspirational Stories, Education Issues, Education Talk. Let your voice be heard: Send us your stories to us: email : pngedunews@gmail.com Share this
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