DESPITE justified public cynicism directed towards the timing of the Prime Minister’s announcement of the K100 million educational subsidy, we can only commend the Education Department for its smart handling of the grant.
Dr Pagelio, the Education Secretary, indicated some weeks ago that details of the allocations would be published early in June. Both he and his department kept their word, as the excellent supplement in The National yesterday indicated.
The allocations to each school are clearly and precisely indicated and the basis for those allocations has been made clear.
The subsidies have been distributed according to the enrolments at each school.
That is fair and equitable.
It also provides something of a rebuttal to those who have alleged that the Government has established a record of uneven development, favouring those departments and provinces most likely to give it a return in economic profits or political mileage. We might add that the Prime Minister has finally made it clear that he is no supporter of “free education”.
The National has maintained an unwavering attitude towards Government payment of school and other educational fees.
We don’t believe that Government-funded education is in the interests of parents, children, the government of the day or the future of the nation. Parents too readily come to regard the education of their children as somebody else’s problem.
Many parents are already unwilling to educate their children in life skills and wash their hands of responsibility for the behaviour of their offspring long before they reach puberty.
Free education will encourage that attitude.
Children will find it harder to develop a positive attitude towards studies paid for by a government. They will come to regard the provision of public support as an integral part of their lives, an assured right that they can afford to take for granted. Nothing could more surely discourage the development of individual brilliance, personal responsibility, societal obligation and a balanced and rational view of PNG and its future directions.
The liberal philosophy that for decades informed the PNG curriculum always acknowledged the background presence of a dream. That dream was free quality education for every child in the country.
It was a wonderful dream – and a dream it continues to be.
It cannot become tangible until educationists in PNG help turn it into a reality.
And to do that requires PNG to commit a far greater proportion of its income to education.
We would have to aggressively pursue far higher teaching standards and so educate parents that an insatiable thirst for learning became as much a part of life as breathing. Those goals are in some ways even more remote today than they were three or four decades ago.
Education today does not represent the glittering goal our grandparents fought to gain.
Teacher education is arguably less effective than it was in the past, with teachers often disinterested in the fate of their students.
For many, teaching has become just another job, rather than the passionate profession, the dedicated career of yesterday. Those who suppose that free education would lead to an increase in the involvement of parents in the running of schools and the progress of their children might well be in for a shock.
Parents and students now regard education, their schools and teachers and their facilities as the duty of the government to provide.
If parents pay a significant proportion of school fees, they are far more likely to take an interest in how their money is spent and how their children are benefiting from their contributions.
Schools in PNG have the chance to return to the days when parents and citizens organisations were an integral and reliable part of the school fabric.
Maintenance of schools and teachers houses could again become a acceptable responsibility of parents and the community.
But that won’t happen if parents believe that the responsibility for educating their offspring lies with somebody else.
We warmly congratulate Dr Pagelio and those who worked hard to honour the Education Department’s undertakings.
But at the same time, we continue to believe that the government proportion of school fees should be minimal.
Papua New Guineans have always stood on their own two feet.Labels: education online, financial aid, scholarship |
