Invest in education and punish those who exploit the under privileged

By FIDELIS SUKINA

Who dreams of change? I do and everyone else who is fed up with the situation here in Papua New Guinea, unequal distribution of wealth social problems and the list goes on.

We tend to live in our own secluded little areas and ignore the fact that society is crumbling due to simple actions of disrespect not being corrected.

Every time a person swears, words so obscene that you just shake your head bow down and walk on,

You support the actions of that person and give him the immunity to curse his peers in words unimaginable.

When someone is breaking bottles and cursing people we just ignore him or in some instances, beat the living daylights out of the poor person.

Who’s the victim here? People deserve respect and that’s what’s lacking in society these days,

“The Vision 2050” a policy document of Papua New Guinea created to meet mandated United Nations goals and the country’s own medium term development goals, is working towards its main goal, to shape Papua New Guinea into “A Smart, Wise, Fair and Happy Society by 2050”.

PNG has approximately 35 years to improve its ranking and move into the top 50 of the United Nations Human Development Index.

“Then we will be creating opportunities for personal and national advancement through economic growth, smart innovative ideas, quality service and ensuring fair and equitable distribution of benefits in safe and secure environment for all citizens” according  to Vision  2050

How can we seriously improve the standards of Papua New Guineas when almost 40% of the 80% of our population living in rural areas are far from basic health and education services?

Standards are put in place by International bodies to help a nation realize its slack and by realizing so try to meet the world standards.

But we are always falling short somehow, look at the recent reports in the media Government schools in the Nation’s Capital are short by 30% of school subsidies.

 Free education is a great concept put in place to reach the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of universal education.

 But we still misuse the money for contracts and schools end up with incomplete classrooms, which lead to overcrowding, and the list goes on. 

And these are the urban schools; imagine the rural schools do we even know what the situation is.

It all starts with education parents are the first teachers, they teach respect and proper attitude accepted by a modern globalized society.

To be “A Smart, Wise, Fair and Happy Society by 2050” we need to prioritize education, because that’s where a  person of the next generation is thought to think critically, to be wise and fair in decision making and that will contribute to a society that is less rebellious.

 We have fallen on hard times; we have been left to take charge of our country since 1975 to improve our communities.

We must take lead away from international condemnation; constant human rights violations are seriously crippling our worldview. 

Sometimes I wonder what my purpose is on this earth, especially here in Papua New Guinea, looking around at the poverty that surrounds me, the complete lack of respect for society and other individuals

I am like almost all Papua New Guineans conditioned to accept a society that minds their own business, turning a blind eye at a poor brother or sister, a mother being physically assaulted.

What is my purpose, is it to solve these problems, but people laugh at the idea of helping them, or they simply just say “larim ol wantok blo em ba kam helpim em” (leave him alone his relatives will take care of him)

What a sorry excuse for a person who flies the flag on Independence Day and sang the national anthem and pledge each day in primary school.

Where has all that value of Christianity gone to? So many churches popping up around the country but still we are poor in divine intervention, to help a poor soul physically, spiritually and mentally down and out clinging on nothing but sheer hope. 

 It’s hard enough being an outcast in a country where the extended family is a strong hold, but to see another Papua New Guinean with perhaps a plot of land back home to toil being forced to beg by their relatives is a disgrace.

That is not smart wise or even fair it’s just plain exploitation, what can the welfare and community development department do to punish these exploiters.