THE Governor-General Reverand David Tiva Kapu has used his New Year’s National Address to reiterate the call by his predecessor Sir David Vunagi on educational institutions in the country to review the curriculum they offer to students in order to prepare them for any job available to them after graduation.
He said, “regarding human resource development, my predecessor in his 2024 New Year’s, which I would like to reiterate, stated that, and I quote:
“Universities, schools and training centres need to review the curriculum they offer their students.
“The statistics for universities and schools to prepare their students for white-collar job or even blue-collar job is no longer true. I believe economic strategy is the missing link that needs to be incorporated into school curriculums.
“The economic strategy should instill in students what is available for them after graduation, including what financial facilities are available to help them create jobs.
“Students must be encouraged to exercise resilience and the freedom in taking risks to pursue tasks to create jobs. It is the moral responsibility of this nation to see these things are available for newly graduated students form our universities, schools and training centres,” end of quote.
Governor General Kapu added that the way forward for Solomon Islands is creating avenues and strategies for students who continue to graduate out of various institutions in the country and in the region to secure employment.
He said these objectives are not easy to attain, but the country must begin work on establishing the platforms on which future generations can improve on.
“We must continue to seek ways to add value to our existing learning avenues and institutions – not only the infrastructure development but in the programmes and curriculums.
“We must continue to seek ways to curb social issues which are largely associated with lack of employment for a lot of our school dropouts and even graduates. What can we do to impart trade skills to all our dropouts and to add more value and prospect to their bleak outlook?”
Governor-General Kapu highlighted that the introduction of better conditions for teachers and education providers in terms of innovative and creative schemes is crucial.
“I understand the Ministry of Education [and Human Resource Development] is currently working on that, which is encouraging,” the Governor-General added.
In this context, Governor-General Kapu thanked the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian governments for their seasonal labour mobility schemes which help provide employment opportunities to thousands of Solomon Islands men and women.
By IAN LADDS OSO
Solomon Star, Honiara
