The Yangoru-Saussia District in the East Sepik Province will not implement the 1-6-6 school structure.
This was expressed by the local MP and the Minister for International Trade and Investment, Richard Maru.
“Yangoru-Saussia District is not implementing this structure and will not invest in it because it is very costly,” Minister Maru said.
The 1-6-6 school structure was introduced in 2018 and comprises of one year for elementary education, 6 years for primary education, and 6 years for secondary education. Minister Maru said the Yangoru-Saussia District was not against this school structure but would not implement it because it was costly.
“The question is: what do we do with the grade 7 and 8 classrooms that we have already built in our primary schools and where will we find the funds to build new classrooms? We simply do not have the means to do that,” the Minister Maru said.
Minister Maru expressed that instead of implementing the 1-6-6 school structure, the Yangoru-Saussia District Development Authority (DDA) will be focusing on other education priorities in the district like building boarding schools.
“Records show that students who attend boarding schools have higher academic results than those who attend day schools. We currently have two boarding secondary schools in the district- Kubalia Secondary School in the Sausso LLG and Nagam Secondary School in the Numbo LLG. Our priority now is to build two more boarding schools- one in East Yangoru LLG and another in West Yangoru LLG.” He said.
“We also have to complete phase two of the School of the Excellence and look at establishing a technical institution to skill our young people after completion of their secondary education,” he added.
Minister Maru also expressed that he was extremely proud that schools in the Yangoru-Saussia District had done well academically last year with the district being ranked the top performing district in the East Sepik Province according to the Grade 8 National Examination Data 2022 Report.
“As a result of our policy of ‘God First and Education Second’ Yangoru-Saussia DDA invests minimum of K3 million and K4 million in education alone every year and we are now starting to see the results of these investments. We will continue to invest in education because we are still not there yet. We will be investing in boarding schools to help improve academic performance of our students. This the DDA’s plan going forward,” Minister Maru said.
