Polye’s Education Policy is an Attack on PNG's Rural People

Statement by PNC

Not only does the THE leader Don Polye's plan on abolishing the Tuition Fee Free policy, his newly announced plan to jail parents who do not send their children to school will no doubt be most disastrous for rural and remote people.

Families living in our urban centres are for the most part more affluent and have better access to education. Most of their children will receive some level of education because their parents are more likely to be able to afford it and schools are much closer to home.
Polye’s proposal to scrap the TFF and then jail parents who do not send their children to school until grade 12 will impact a small minority of those living in places like Moresby and Lae. It will however impact the majority of people who live in remote areas where education facilities are several hours travel away.
Rural families on average also tend to have more children. For a family living in Moresby having three children the of educating these children out of pocket is probably possible. For a family with eight children living outside Kandep the burden of educating their children is far heavier.
He plans on further attacking rural people by abolishing the DSIP program that has empowered districts and MPs to generate real change in their electorates free from the bureaucracy of Waigani. For a country has has 80% of its people living in rural and remote areas, this is a shameful attack on the people who need services the most.
This policy, if put into action, would make criminals of many hardworking parents across Papua New Guinea. If THE is committed to abolishing the TFF, they must reconsider their position of jailing poor parents, who no doubt would send all their children to school if the resources and facilities were available to them.
“We hope all parents around the country take note of this, and rest assured that under a PNC-led government the education of your children is safe. There are now more than two million children in our schools, an additional one million more than when we came to office." Prime Minister Peter O'Neill