26 Sep 2011

PNG Teachers Association says too few teachers to satisfy government initiative

8:08 pm on 26 September 2011

The general secretary of the Papua New Guinea Teachers Association says there won't be enough teachers to fulfill the government's wish to provide free education for students up to year 10.

Ugwalubu Mowana says the government initiative is a bold one but currently the number of teachers being trained is exceeded by those leaving the profession.

In its first budget the Peter O'Neill led government has allocated 165 million US dollars to education for next year but Mr Mowana says this won't go far.

"This amount of money is small.It proably might cater for teacher and learning materials but it won't assist infrastructure development in schools.Likewise it will not help in training of teachers with that allocation."

Mr Mowana says the government initiative is likely to lead to larger classes and affect the quality of education provided.