PM O’Neill Wishes all Students, Parents and Teachers a Successful School Year

The Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill  has wished all students, parents and teachers every success for the start of the 2016 school year.

“Around our country children are going to their schools, some for the first time, and gaining the knowledge that will last a lifetime,” PM O’Neill said.

“I wish every student, their parents and their teachers a very successful school year.

“The children in our schools today are all part of the education generation, the first generation of Papua New Guinea, children to have access to free education.

“The provision of fee-free education is not an easy policy to implement, but it is one of our most important policies.

“Every child in our country deserves the chance to have a quality education, be they rich or poor, from the city or the most remote village.

“We all must work together so that we can deliver tuition fee-free education to our families.

“While our country is facing challenges from the slowdown in the global economy, our Government will continue to make education and healthcare our top priorities.”

The Prime Minister said expanding free education to all children has seen the number of students double to more than two million.

“We now have at least a million children who had not been in school.

“This means many more girls are going to school who never previously had the chance to obtain an education.

“Free education changes lives and builds a stronger nation.”

PM O’Neill said more teachers colleges are continuing to be built around Papua New Guinea and more teachers are entering the education system.

“The number of children attending our schools is only going to increase as our population grows.

“More teachers will be trained, and as the years go by, millions more children will graduate from school than ever before.

“I hope all students study hard and have good results from their studies this year.”