Research suggests that policy-makers now need to focus on the less politically popular aspects of education policy, such as improving teacher quality and oversight and monitoring

NEWSDESK
| Radio New Zealand | Pacific News
AUCKLAND - More than 10 years after it started, big changes are being called for in Papua New Guinea's tuition fee-free education system, introduced by the O'Neill government in 2011.
The National Research Institute (NRI) in PNG has conducted an assessment in East Sepik and Morobe provinces and found that, while fee-free education improved access for many students, the quality of education was undermined.
Continue reading "Fee-free education in PNG flawed, says NRI" »
My call alerted the authorities to my existence as a primary trained teacher in a secondary trained position. This triggered a rather drastic chain reaction
Tapini grass airstrip, c 1967 (Bob Grieve)
IAN ROBERTSON
BRISBANE – The Tapini airstrip featured as an oddity during my service in Papua New Guinea.
This has begun in 1959 after I had completed the two-year Cadet Education Officer’s certificate course at the Australian School of Pacific Administration in 1958.
Continue reading "8 days of rain & a some bizarre musical chairs" »
Dr Shailendra Singh - "Social media can be empowering and liberating" (Dialogue Fiji)
SHAILENDRA SINGH
| Asia Pacific Review | Edited
SUVA - Social media is a mixed bag, with both democratic and undemocratic tendencies. But then few things in life are perfect.
And in that regard social media poses a major dilemma. Not just in Fiji, but many countries that are grappling with how best to tackle it.
This includes even developed countries like Australia.
Continue reading "If mainstream media fails, social media saves" »
Now extraordinarily well qualified, Betani Ruhup shows off his testamur after the graduation ceremony he always wanted for himself at the University of Papua New Guinea
BETANI RUHUP
| Academia Nomad
PORT MORESBY – This about my journey from cleaner to mine worker to security guard to secondary school teacher and finally to being awarded a second degree at the University of Papua New Guinea.
After attending Divanapmin Primary School, in 1993 I did Grade 7 at Aitape High School. Then after suffering from malaria I transferred to Telefomin High School for Grades 7 and 8 and Grades 9 and 10 at Tabubil High School.
Continue reading "Scholar Betani Ruhup’s formula for success" »
Indonesia is leaving no stone unturned in applying pressure on West Papua
SRI KRISHNAMURTHI
| Radio New Zealand | Pacific Digital Journalist
| Edited
AUCKLAND - West Papuan students are facing a difficult time in New Zealand after Indonesia terminated their scholarships and ordered them home.
Master of Communications student Laurens Ikinia told RNZ Pacific said he his dreams of a brighter future have been shattered by the Indonesian government.
Continue reading "West Papua students ordered home from NZ" »
A graduation ceremony at Pacific Adventist University in Port Moresby
SIMON DAVIDSON
PORT MORESBY - It is 12 years since I attended Dr Carol Tasker’s class on Spiritual Formation at the Papua New Guinea Union Mission study centre in Lae.
Dr Tasker is an Australian who studied for her doctorate, with a special focus on Adventist pastors’ spirituality, at Andrews University in the United States.
Continue reading "The teacher who makes the angels dance" »
JUSTIN KUNDALIN
KANDEP - I believe in books. In fact I’m planning to write a book called ‘Books Live Longer than Man’.
When people write a book, they speak to people through its pages. But sadly, many people don’t have the guts to put in the pages of a book the knowledge and wisdom they have gathered.
Continue reading "Write a book: It will live longer than you" »
Something of a metaphor. Ulli Beier with monkey idling in the shadows on his shoulder
ED BRUMBY
MELBOURNE - It is 52 years since I attended Ulli Beier’s classes in African literature at the University of Papua New Guinea.
Now as then, and like many others, my view of him remains conflicted.
Maebh Long has laid bare, eloquently, his hypocrisy and deceit which, back then, was a matter of considerable gossip, on and off campus.
Continue reading "Ulli Beier: A personal recollection" »
SIMON DAVIDSON
I once walked the city’s dusty streets,
Homeless, aimless, penniless
Dropped-out, poor, no future,
Surviving on crumbs and goodwill
But with undying hope in my soul
I scraped a few coins to study,
And paid my way right through,
Sat in the university’s honoured halls
Now nothing to lose, all to win
And sensed God’s call in my life
Continue reading "Ode to an Adventist education" »
The 'sandwalk' where the great scientist. Charles Darwin, did much of his thinking
SIMON DAVIDSON
SONOMA - A fertile brain bubbling with game changing ideas is the by-product of habits consistently practiced.
A fertile brain does not emerge by accident, nor is it given on a golden plate.
It needs to be shaped and transformed through consistent good thinking and good practice over time.
Continue reading "You can improve the way your brain works" »
Justin Olam - rugby league champion (nrl.com)
JUSTIN KUNDALIN
KANDEP, ENGA – Papua New Guinea is a developing country doing everything it can to catch up with the Western world.
In my view, easily the greatest Western influence in shaping PNG has been education; although other transformational forces, such as building a minerals-based economy, have been crucial.
Continue reading "Graduating to illiteracy? Just not on" »
Cedric Agurope and his uncle, Cr Max Okm (Max Okm)
MARIAN FAA
| Pacific Beat, ABC | Edited extracts
PORT MORESBY - Hundreds of students in a remote Papua New Guinean school have repeated the same grade for eight years because teachers are abandoning their jobs.
Cedric Agurope, a former student of Jangit Primary School in East Sepik Province says he did not make it past Grade 3.
Continue reading "Where schools don’t open & teachers don’t teach" »
Sir John Kerr - former governor-general, ASOPA lecturer and Old Fortian
HARRY TOPHAM
BUDERIM, QLD - In earlier days, when secondary education was not a viable option for boys and girls from poor working class backgrounds, Fort Street Boys and Fort Street Girls in Sydney were selective high schools run by the New South Wales state government.
Fort Street Boys (later amalgamated with Fort Street Girls) was established in 1849 and is the oldest government high school in NSW and many famous Australians passed through its portals.
Continue reading "The opportunity of a good education" »
JOHN KURI
PORT MORESBY - The signing of the Papua LNG and P’nyang gas agreements signals, amongst other things, increased revenue for government coffers.
The big figures involved are impressive and have been well-publicised. Well done to prime minister James Marape and your team.
Continue reading "A great moment to get a jobs strategy" »
Dr Bal Kama - "“If faith had not been part of the equation, I think things would have gone in a different direction"
KEITH JACKSON
NOOSA – In March 2020, Bal Kama – from a village near Gumine in Chimbu Province - was awarded a doctorate by the Australian National University for his thesis, ‘Reconceptualising the role of the judiciary in Papua New Guinea’s ‘home grown’ constitution’.
Covid being the great party wrecker of our time, it was only on Tuesday this week that there was a graduation ceremony at which Bal was presented with his testamur - the legal document verifying that a high qualification has been legally conferred.
Continue reading "The Bal Kama story: Quite a journey so far" »
Prime Minister James Marape addresses the Pacific Adventist University’s 35th graduation ceremony (PMNEC)
JOHN K KAMASUA
| PNG Career Development Inc
PORT MORESBY -In the first issue of The Organizational Doctor, published last August, I wrote on the important outcomes of a short survey I conducted on the issue of connecting graduates to jobs.
In Papua New Guinea we are producing many fine graduates who cannot find appropriate employment: this is a quite appalling situation for them and their families and a terrible waste to the nation.
Continue reading "A policy to energise the PNG jobs market" »
Michael Kabuni reveals the PNG government wasted half a billion kina over five years on just some of its ‘ghost employees’
MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad
PORT MORESBY - A few years back, it was revealed that a teacher at Oro Province’s rural Bareji High School had no qualifications for the job.
This year, the tireless efforts of Sunday Bulletin journalist Simon Eroro exposed that a consultant hired by the Oro Provincial Government possessed no qualifications for the job he was doing.
Continue reading "We need practical leaders who get things right" »
Dr Damon Salesa - "We need to honour and be connected to our whanau around the Pacific" (Radio New Zealand)
KEITH JACKSON
NOOSA – The new vice-chancellor of Auckland University of Technology (AUT), is keenly aware that he has broken through another glass ceiling.
The son of a factory worker, Dr Damon Salesa made New Zealand history last week as the first Pacific person to be appointed to head a New Zealand university.
Continue reading "Pacific whanau must be honoured" »
BERNARD CORDEN
‘Artists are the gatekeepers of truth’ - Paul Robeson
BRISBANE – Covid or not, the blend of politics and economics that is neoliberalism continues to transfer control of the economy from government to private hands.
In doing so it continues to place limits on government spending, government regulation and government ownership.
Continue reading "There’s a man going ’round taking names" »
Ron May has provided an immense legacy of knowledge and scholarship in 5o years of research and writing about Papua New Guinea
ANTHONY REGAN, NICOLE HALEY
& THIAGO OPPERMANN
CANBERRA - Emeritus Fellow Ron May is being honoured by a conference and Festschrift (collection of writings) to celebrate his 50-year contribution to research, writing and thinking, especially about Papua New Guinea.
The celebration is hosted by the Department of Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University.
Continue reading "ANU honours eminent PNG scholar, Ron May" »
KEITH JACKSON
NOOSA - According to a recent study by the PNG National Research Institute (NRI), public servants trained in ethics and values-based leadership are sceptical that these courses can improve workplace behaviour.
Each year since 2015, with the aim of improving ethics on the job, selected groups of PNG public servants have been attending ethics and leadership courses at the Pacific Institute of Leadership and Governance.
Continue reading "How the ethics program fell back to earth" »
KEITH JACKSON
NOOSA – There are many issues holding back the success and prosperity of the resource rich Papua New Guinea and its adept people.
Chief among them are the entrenched corruption and decision-making acumen that somehow seem to have failed the transition of social and political power from clan to country.
Continue reading "Democracy suffers when media languish" »
MICHAEL DOM
LAE - How do we return Papua Niugini to a culture of Melanesian cooperation and how can the common people make those in power behave responsibly?
According to the evolutionary perspective, the birthplace of democracy was the tribe. Indeed, tribalism is sometimes referred to as ‘primitive democracy’.
Continue reading "Put politics last: Let’s stop reversing evolution" »
EVELYN ELLERMAN
In this second extract from ‘Learning to Be a Writer in Papua New Guinea’, Evelyn Ellerman writes of the emergence of student writers at the University of Papua New Guinea from 1967, which led to the development of a home-grown Papua New Guinean literature. Her paper was part of the University of Calgary’s ‘History of Intellectual Culture’ series. Link here to the complete paper - KJ
CALGARY - In the late 1960s, three principal publishing vehicles were associated with the University of Papua New Guinea's Literature Department.
Kovave, an in-house literary journal; Papua Pocket Poets, an in-house poetry series; and a number of externally published collections whose content was gleaned from the journal and the series.
Continue reading "Writing in PNG: Kovave & beyond" »
Ulli Beier - "Drawing upon nearly 15 years of pioneering work in Nigeria, he had some notion of what he wanted to accomplish in PNG"
EVELYN ELLERMAN
In this extract from ‘Learning to Be a Writer in Papua New Guinea’, Evelyn Ellerman writes of the establishment of the Literature Department at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1967, which led directly to the development of the first shoots of a home-grown Papua New Guinean literature. Her important paper was written as part of the University of Calgary’s ‘History of Intellectual Culture’ series. Link here to Ellerman’s complete paper - KJ
CALGARY - Since so few Melanesians could read and write, the first admission to UPNG was relatively small: in 1966 only 55 students registered.
Many of these students were required to take a bridging year in order to improve their grasp of English. A handful registered for the literature classes and began to write.
Continue reading "How PNG's first literary blossoming arrived" »
BARBARA ANGORO
| Bee’s Odyssey
AUCKLAND - By now nearly everyone with access to social media in Papua New Guinea is aware of the changes to air travel from overseas.
I get why overseas travel into PNG has to be tightened – the Delta variant of Covid-19 is spreading like wildfire and needs to be stopped.
Continue reading "Travel rules leave students in limbo" »
Peter Bridger - "Lived a positive and full life, and contributed a great deal to his spiritual home of Papua New Guinea"
GRAHAM KING
YUNGABURRA, QLD - My mate Peter Bridger (3 March 1951 – 26 June 2021) has sadly passed on to that classroom in the sky.
He had retired to Deal in Kent in the United Kingdom in November after 42 years in Papua New Guinea.
In 1978 Peter John Bridger responded to an advertisement in an English newspaper calling for people to teach in Papua New Guinea.
Continue reading "Peter Bridger, PNG educator for 42 years, dies at 70" »
Mr Ukuma in the classroom at East Ambogo - "I continue to teach because my desire is to serve my community, my province and my country"
MICHELLE AUAMOROMORO
| Mim’s Diary
POPONDETTA - Teachers are the backbone of a nation. They are the foundation of every other profession - tough people who raise their hands to educate a nation.
In Papua New Guinea, we have heard news over the years about teachers going on strike for not being paid or not being paid well. But not all teachers raise their concerns openly.
Continue reading "Ignored & unpaid: The commitment of a teacher" »
Dr David Robie - "I have never experienced something as blatant, destructive and lacking in transparency as this"
DAVID ROBIE
| Café Pacific | Edited extract
Link here to read the complete illustrated chronicle of the Pacific Media Centre by its founding director Dr Robie
AUCKLAND - It really is bizarre. After 26 months of wrangling, stakeholder representations and appeals by Pacific Media Centre (PMC) to Auckland University of Technology, in the end the innovative unit remains in limbo.
In fact, sadly, it seems like a dead end.
Continue reading "Savage assassination of Pacific media jewel" »
Clement Papa - priest, rector and now PhD from the Divinity University in Australia: the youngest brother in a remarkable family
JOE KETAN
| Asia-Pacific Anticorruption & Human Rights Advocate Group
MOUNT HAGEN - Fr Dr Clement Papa is the youngest son of Pius Pii - popularly known as Kopi Kund Pii - a pioneer PNG Catholic missionary.
In 1947, Pius Pii, among the first students of pioneer American missionary Fr William Ross, upon completion of his training at Rebiamul, Mount Hagen, was sent to Anglimp-South Wahgi to establish the Kuli Parish.
Continue reading "Fr Dr Clement Papa - chip off the old block" »
MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad
WAIGANI - Drunkard students sexually assaulted a female student at the University of Papua New Guinea and on Monday 7 June the female students protested against sexual harassment, which is an ongoing issue.
They hosted a forum at the UPNG Forum Square to address the issue. The media present to cover the story were attacked and chased by the male students who didn’t want them to cover the meeting, ironically stating that it would portray a bad image of the institution.
Continue reading "Do good men still live at UPNG?" »
UPNG female students protest against sexual harassment on campus (Charlie Dumavi - PNG Bulletin)
KEITH JACKSON
PORT MORESBY – A mob of angry male students has disrupted a protest and threatened women objecting to sexual harassment at the University of Papua New Guinea.
The male mob also physically harassed and abused media workers covering the event.
For many years, female students have experienced persistent sexual harassment on UPNG’s Waigani campus.
Continue reading "Male students turn nasty at UPNG protest" »
Moses Tekwie - honoured his father and family by graduating from Otago University yesterday
OTAGO BULLETIN BOARD
| University of Otago | Edited
DUNEDIN - Moses Muhwannah Tekwie yesterday graduated from the University of Otago with a Master of International Business with Distinction.
But he had gone through unimaginable heartbreak when both his father and cousin-brother died only a short time before he departed from Papua New Guinea for New Zealand.
Continue reading "Moses Tekwie honours his father’s legacy" »
Barbara Angoro - the real pressure is on now
BARBARA ANGORO
| Duresi’s Odyssey
AUCKLAND - Time sure has flown. I’ve completed two years and two months of my PhD. I still have a fair way to go but that this journey is halfway through amazes me. Seems like yesterday I was attending doctoral induction day.
The real pressure is on now – no thanks to Covid-19 lockdowns (the first very long one began in March last year and there have been short ones since, including twice early this year).
Continue reading "My PhD journey, Covid notwithstanding" »
Michelle (far right) at the first graduation on 22 April
MICHELLE AUAMOROMORO
| Mim’s Diary
POPONDETTA - After moving to Popondetta late last year, my partner Pau and I were a little concerned that youths and even adults living in the community were mostly unemployed.
Doing nothing - no school, no work - seemed to be normal to them. We noticed that one of the things they lacked was basic computer knowledge.
Continue reading "We all have a part to play" »
John Kuri and daughters. "It still amazes me when each year politicians and bureaucrats announce that more than half of school leavers will have to fend for themselves"
JOHN KURI
PORT MORESBY - The newspaper headline late last year said that only 9,000 out of 27,000 Grade 12 leavers would get a place in a tertiary institution.
We’ve all seen headlines like this previously in Papua New Guinea. They happen each year.
Along with a story about the imminent disaster waiting to happen if the government doesn’t do more.
Continue reading "School leavers: Containing the blast" »
Betty outside the university library
HAZEL KUTKUE
| Sipikriva Girl | Edited
BRAUN, MOROBE – I recently got to talk to Papua New Guinean writer and educator Betty Gabriel Wakia about her experiences living in China.
Betty, 33, from Papua New Guinea’s Hela Province, was born at Ramu in Madang Province and grew up living between her village and Port Moresby.
Continue reading "Betty lived in China & loved it" »
A section of the new Western Pacific University in the Southern Highlands
NEWS DESK
| PNG Bulletin
PORT MORESBY – Papua New Guinea prime minister James Marape will be in Ialibu, Southern Highlands Province on Monday 1 March to open the new Western Pacific University.
Mr Marape is expected to be accompanied by government ministers and opposition members.
Continue reading "Marape to open Western Pacific University" »
Teachers and pupils at a PNG rural school (globalgiving.org)
AG SATORI
PORT MORESBY – I’ve been investigating the operation of the Tuition Fee Free (TFF) process in Papua New Guinea and whether it is doing the best it can for schools.
And also whether it might be better structured to do more to support education and, in doing that, to support the development of literature and literacy in PNG.
Continue reading "Cleaning up school funding could boost literature " »
Professor Pal Ahluwalia says his deportation is a case of "let's to get rid of this man because he exposed too much corruption"
MICHAEL FIELD
| The Pacific Newsroom
AUCKLAND - When the University of the South Pacific’s vice chancellor Pal Ahluwalia was hauled out of his Suva, Fiji, home last week and deported, it had nothing to do with his views on education or tertiary management.
With his wife and nursing lecturer Sandy Price they were driven across curfew-locked down Fiji to be put on a plane to Australia.
Continue reading "Ahluwalia got too close to Fiji’s dark secret" »
Professor Pal Ahluwalia after his deportation from Fiji (Samoa Observer)
DAVID ROBIE
| Asia Pacific Report | Pacnews
AUCKLAND - Deported head of the University of the South Pacific, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, says his expulsion from Fiji is “a classic case of beating the whistleblower up,” and has vowed to continue in the role from Nauru. Samoa has also offered him a home.
In an interview with the Australian ABC’s Pacific Beat, Professor Ahluwalia has detailed his sudden arrest and deportation.
Continue reading "‘They beat up the whistleblower’: Ahluwalia" »
Prof Pal Ahluwalia and his wife Sandra Price (waving) are escorted to their aircraft by Fiji officials at Nadi International Airport (Pacific Newsroom)
WANSOLWARA STAFF
| Asia Pacific Report
SUVA - Staff, students and alumni of the University of the South Pacific have called on the Fiji government to immediately reinstate the work permit of vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia, who was deported yesterday with his wife, Sandra Price.
The USP community also called on the government to issue a formal apology to Professor Ahluwalia for the violation of human rights.
Continue reading "‘Gestapo tactics’ against deported Fiji uni boss" »
HERCULES PALME JIM
| My Land, My Country
PORT MORESBY - So much has been said on the quality of education in the country.
According to a recent news article only 9,000 Grade 12 students out of 27,000 were selected to attend tertiary institutions in the country (The National, 23 December 2020).
Continue reading "The time bomb of poor quality education" »
MICHAEL DOM
“The FODE (Flexible Open Distance Education) students will study the same contents and they will sit for the same exams. So no one should be left behind. All students should be educated equally” - Education Minister Jimmy Uguro, Fee free option for dropouts, The National, 12 January 2021
“Dropout(s), noun: a person who has abandoned a course of study or who has rejected conventional society to pursue an alternative lifestyle, e.g. "a college dropout" (Oxford Languages)
LAE – Some people like to use the synonym ‘hippy’ or ‘free spirit’ instead of ‘dropout’ or, more disapprovingly, ‘rebel’ or ‘misfit’. And, with even less appreciation, ’loafer’, ‘deadbeat’, ‘bum’ or ‘bad boy’ (na ‘bad girl’ tu o?).
Continue reading "Minister, I must say there are no dropouts" »
MICHAEL.KABUNI
| Academia Nomad | Edited
PORT MORESBY - PNG’s tertiary institutions are becoming an exclusive club of the few, as the rest are pushed out of the system.
However, with dropping quality, the qualifications will not mean much if there’s no investment.
It’s the same as placing a quota on imported goods. Product prices go up not because of their quality but because of the limited supply.
Continue reading "PNG’s exclusive low quality club looms" »
Students protest against the establishment of a Confucius Institute at University of Adelaide
ALBERT SCHRAM
| Edited extract
Link here to read Dr Schram’s complete essay, ‘China and the West: institutional autonomy, academic freedom, and student movements in the Pacific’
VERONA - In Papua New Guinea for a total of six years I was vice-chancellor of the PNG University of Technology (Unitech) in Lae, the second largest and second oldest university in the country.
As prescribed in the university acts, I was ex-officio member of the councils of both my own university and the country’s oldest and largest university, the University of PNG.
Continue reading "The Chinese incursion into universities" »
PHILIP FITZPATRICK
TUMBY BAY - It is not possible to know everything. This is a truth that often dawns on people only in their older years.
The best we can hope for, and this is rare enough, is to be a polymath; a person of broad general knowledge.
Continue reading "It’s just not possible to know everything" »
Pole Kale writes the story of his life and career but also a manual on how a commitment to education is best realised as a family pursuit
ARNOLD MUNDUA
Quest for Education: From Selling Firewood to Yale University, by Pole John Kale, Published by Francis Nii under the imprint of Simbu Writers Association, August 2020. Copies can be ordered from Pole Kale, email polekale@gmail.com. Also available here from Amazon Books
KUNDIAWA - It is not often that you will find an academic success story of a Papua New Guinean intellectual in print form.
Although written CVs or career profiles may give an insight into a person’s academic background, the early childhood experiences that contribute to achieving such success are mostly obscured.
Continue reading "How a Gumine family graduated from Yale" »
Wallace Parimahi - talented young writer whose winning entry in the Paradise College writing contest, 'Project Infiltration', will be published in PNG Attitude tomorrow
MARLENE DEE GRAY POTOURA
| PNG Paradise College | Innovative School of the 21st Century
PORT MORESBY - I first heard of Paradise College when the principal, Mr Safak Deliismail, contacted me in 2016 to be a guest speaker at their ANIS Writing Competition awards.
I couldn’t make it at that time but three years on I am teaching at Paradise College in the subject I love to teach, Language and Literature.
Continue reading "Welcome to Paradise" »
JUSTIN KUNDALIN
PORT MORESBY - I’m not against Facebook fans or anything to do with Facebook but I’m writing this article because of concern for my fellow students because I’ve come to realise Facebook can be a big distraction.
As a result, many students are not performing to their potential in the classroom.
Continue reading "Facebook is a distraction for students" »