The National Research Institute, recommends that the government should address challenges faced by primary schools in providing quality education.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been implementing the Tuition Fee Free (TFF) policy with the aim of providing all school-aged children the opportunity to have access to education.
While quality education in early learning is paramount for a child’s progression into the future that is missing in some schools in the country.
The National Research Institute today released its Discussion Paper No. 209 titled “Assessment of challenges that primary schools face in providing quality education: Evidence from East Sepik and Morobe Provinces, Papua New Guinea”.
The report highlights the challenges that primary schools in East Sepik and Morobe provinces face in an attempt to deliver quality education to its pupils.
According to the report, the key challenges faced by primary schools in East Sepik and Morobe Provinces are:
- Acute shortage of well-resourced classrooms
- Shortage of teaching and learning resources
- Inadequate qualified teachers, and
- Inadequate water sanitation and hygiene care facilities.
The report further sates that if the intention of the government is to sustain gains from TFF, such as the increase in enrollment of school aged children, increase in the participation of girls in education and increase in retention rate, it should consider investing more in resources for teaching and learning as well as infrastructure.
Findings from this report will provide the government and policy makers with the necessary information they need to assess the outcomes of basic education investment for all children, while also providing other areas to improve on.
The Publication can be accessed on the PNG NRI website https://www.pngnri.org.