He made this remarks today in Parliament, while answering questions raised by Governor for Simbu, Michael Dua.
Mr Dua put the question regarding teachers’ pay cut, to the Minister responsible.
He asked the Minister for Education, Nick Kuman to simply explain why many teachers were faced with hefty pay cuts only recently.
“Many of our teachers have been experiencing pay-cuts and could not provide for their families.
Thousands of teachers around country celebrated their day today and the PNG Education Institute was no exception.
The theme commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 and serves as a reminder that the right to education cannot be realized without trained and qualified teachers.
He explained that it is a stop to the lump sum which was back-dated to January last year, following the 3 percent pay rise, effective June 20, which was pay 13.
The country’s 65,000 teachers received a 3 percent pay rise, effective June 20 this year, which was Pay number 13.
Minister Kuman reiterated that the teachers had been paid lump sum backdated to January 1, 2017, however, last fortnight, September 26, some teachers had their pay cut, up to K200.
He further explained that this was not a pay cut but the lump sum, coming to an end.
West New Britain Governor Sasindran Muthuvel uttered this remarks when officially opening a K50, 000 worth elementary classroom at Buluma in the Hoskins area today.
WNB Governor Sasindran Muthuvel in his official speech said education is the web that keeps community intact because it opens up individual mindsets and enhances each member of the community to become proactive in contributing meaningfully to its development and added that education gives hope for the future generation.
The Buluma elementary school new classroom costs about K50 000.
A key component of this system is the Standards Based Curriculum clearly sets out benchmarks to determine whether or not the child can progress to the next grade, define teaching content according to students’ needs and introduction of new compulsory subjects.
The nationwide Standards Based Curriculum cluster rollout training was launched last week in Port Moresby, and will see 35,000 primary school teachers trained to implement it.
The Standards Based Curriculum is one of 6 main components that make up the SBE system.
Abel said PNG has one of the best education systems at its doorsteps in Australia.
While PNG develops its education system, entry of young Papu New Guineans into Australian schools will be an accelerator for development, stated the acting PM.
Abel said he proposed to the Australian government the opportunity for PNG students to have access to the international learning facilites in Australia, which he believes will be an accelerator for growth.
However, in order to ensure such an idea works, visa issues need to work in both countries’ favours.
For the past three years, there have been a series of incidents of violence, sabotage and kidnapping that are clearly connected with frustrations and discontent about the LNG project.
Lupari made this call after meeting with the Department of Education’s senior management as well as the inter-departmental steering committee on the Tuition Fee Free Policy recently.
Lupari said education is one of the top priorities of the Government and it has to be held at the highest level.
When addressing the senior management and the members of the steering committee on TFF, Lupari stressed the importance of making sure that quality education opportunity is accessed by children in the rural settings as well.
This was emphasized by the Minister for National Planning and Monitoring, Richard Maru this week.
The minister made this remarks sighting the government of PNG’s medium term development plan 3 in the horizon, and the near conclusion of the PNG- New Zealand Joint Commitment for Development at the end of 2018.
He stressed that this was necessary to get the best value of support that is strategically building on the comparative strengths of New Zealand in the area of education.
Member Services & Branch Support Manager, Robert Thadeus, said the Education Savings Account will serve its purpose to meet education expenses only if supporting documents are provided with the application.
“Most parents and guardians lodging applications for Education Savings Withdrawal do not attach supporting documents like school fee invoice, deposit slips, confirmation letter from school accepting child or invoice/quote from stationery supplier,” Thadeus said.