Irian Jaya lacks qualified teachers

Irian Jaya lacks qualified teachers

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: Puncak Jaya regency's dream of quality
education will not come true in the foreseeable future because
the local teacher training institute has failed to produce
qualified teachers, an official said on Tuesday.

The regency established the institute in 1999 after migrant
teachers fled the regency in the early 1990s when they were
threatened by secessionist activists and rebels.

The institute, which offers a two-year course on elementary
school teaching, was set up in cooperation with the Jayapura-
based Cendrawasih University as part of a crash program that is
expected to produce 200 elementary school teachers in two
batches.

Puncak Jaya regent Elieser Renmaur told Antara news agency
that the institute was established to compensate for the more
than 100 teachers who fled the mountainous regency.

Scores of schools have been closed and hundreds of pupils have
had to stay at home.

The regent said many of the first batch of 106 graduates that
will graduate in October were unqualified.

"How can they teach? Many of them can hardly read. I am
personally disappointed and will seek explanation from
Cendrawasih University's rector about how this could happen,"
Renmaur said.