By Julie Badui Owa – EMTV News, Lae
The government’s goal is to provide quality education for every child through the Tuition Fee Free Education Policy.
According to the Education Secretary Dr Uke Kombra, there are now 2.2 million children in school because of the investment in the TFF policy.
With this growth, there are now struggles of delivering quality education to these students.
The national education ratio of teacher to students each class is 1 teacher is to 30 students.
Since the introduction of the government’s Tuition Fee Free Education Policy in 2011, the number of students in a class has risen to 50.
Most schools are facing financial difficulties in building classrooms to cater for the increasing number of students. West Goroka Primary School in Eastern Highlands Province is one example.
According to the Department’s 2016 data, there are 12,318 schools in the country with over 2 million students and 58,285 teachers.
The Department of education receives K3 billion every year for education, which is a portion of K20 billion of the National Budget for the Education Sector.
Dr Kombra in his presentation during the National Planning Consultative Summit last week said the government aims to invest more in human capital.
Dr Kombra has called on the government departments and higher authorities to work together to help manage the national ratio of 1 teacher is to 30 students in each class.
