The government has made several announcements to complement its Fee Free Tuition policy.
Education Minister Nick Kuman says this is to deliver government’s agenda on quality education.
The Minister made the announcement yesterday.
In its 3rd year of implementation, the O’Neill government’s Fee Free tuition policy’s down side has now caught the government’s attention.
The government is now addressing the side effects of this policy, such as teacher shortage and overcrowding in classrooms due to the increasing demand.
This was revealed to the department head and senior managers of the Education Department, by Education Minister, Nick Kuman.
Government is aware of the huge amount of pressure that existing schools are going through, and has decided to put money into building new infrastructure for all primary schools starting next year.
In recognition of their integral part in the education sector, church run schools will also be part of the whole capacity building.
And to boost the existing teacher population of 45 600, it has also decided to increase enrolment for all teacher training institutions starting 2015.
A committee will be put in place to collect necessary information to assist the government roll out of this program.
Details as to how much will be needed for the infrastructure development program will all come from this working committee.
Minister Kuman stated that the money will be made available in the 2015 budget.
Mr Kuman emphasized government’s plans on compulsory education. He challenged the department that there will be no new schools, unless the department comes up with a policy paper on how many schools are needed to cater for compulsory education to be rolled out.
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