Teachers posting, a concern

BY PEARSON KOLO

THE Jiwaka Provincial Government Education Executives are blindly posting teachers causing inconveniences in schools, says a teacher from Kudjip Primary School.

Teacher Alfie Tungo reported that the Provincial Education Department has shifted teachers from rural areas into urban centres and teachers from towns to the rural area during its posting.

“This has created many problems in schools were teachers have refused to take up their posting and those who have been teaching in rural areas for many years fit well in its community while teachers in urban centres in the Province do the same,” Mr Tungo said.

“That is why many teachers have refused to take up their posting or have refused to move out of the schools they have been teaching in and this has caused great inconveniences with the timetables of many schools in the Jiwaka Province.”

The primary school teacher said the provincial education executives must carefully look at the teacher’s background before posting them.

“For instance, the Melanesian Teachers College purposely trains and prepares the primary school teachers to go and teach in remote area of the Province or Country,” Mr Tungo stressed. “But many of the graduates from the Melanesian Nazarene Teachers are posted to urban schools in the Jiwaka Province and this causes problems when old teachers who have been teaching in these urban schools for years are asked to take up posts in the rural areas, where they have never experienced any life as teacher in the rural areas.” He called on the Jiwaka Provincial Education Advisor and his team to consider these issues before doing the postings for next year because the selections and posting is approaching.