Papua New Guinea Government thanks European Union

PNG Education Deputy Secretary Uke Kombra has thanked the European Union for thinking broadly to identify needs to complement the recent changes in education such as the free education policy.

He said the free education policy had seen an influx of students; some were parents or dropouts returning to enrol to finish their education.

Mr Kombra said this yesterday during the foundation stone laying at Balob Teachers College in Lae yesterday.

As a result, there is a problem with the number of students in a class like 50-60 students to a teacher.

"We have to address the issue of quality education," he added.

He said the significance of the Balob project was that it added 250 teachers every year and graduates 2500 teachers. This would bring down the ratio of the number of children to teacher, he added.

Mr Kombra noted a number of education issues and what had been decided so far.

He said the introduction of the Tok Pisin curriculum would of course be at the elementary level, adding this had changed a bit with more emphasis on the English language and more English courses introduced.

He said the teacher training component had increased from two years to three years basically to make the teachers better equipped, competent and up-to-date with the new standard-based education.