| Subject: The social impact of Higher Education among sub-cultural groups in PNG |
Author:
Walker
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Date Posted: 10:11:25 11/01/99 Mon
This posting previously appeared in the Kumul Forum.
How does a nation account for continuously funding higher education more then 25 years? Some conservative estimates
place the figure in the 2 billion kina mark if we consider both public and private expenses. From September 27 to October 1,
1999 the Office of Higher education ran a one-week workshop to consider this very question. It must be important enough to
have to involve international observers, and I think aid donors are keenly interested in this initiative. My question is; do we
who are beneficiaries of higher education ever pose for once to consider how we are helping to make fundamental change in
our communities?
My interest is this issue is being spawned by observations of social and legislative demands for accountability of public funds
earmarked for training on national priorities and the impact at the village level. Community impact in Papua New Guinea
(PNG) concerns the effects of higher education on the lives and attitudes of people in the village setting. The role of higher
education in the village setting through the graduates is important for a country as diverse as PNG and where much of the
population remains unaffected by the inclusion of western modernization. Some of the diversity can be explained by
considering the following.
Our economy is a mix of modern and traditional. Within the traditional sector, there are elements of monetary and market
oriented economic activities. A sizeable sector is involved in cash crop income production consisting largely of coffee, cocoa,
copra, palm oil, and rubber, but large rural sectors remain non-monetary and non-market based. The importance of the
non-monetary or non-market sector is pronounced when the total population and the economically active population are
taken into account. Out of the population of 3.6 million people, (PNG 1990 National Census) approximately 2 million are
economically active, with only 10% being employed in the formal sector; 55% of the formal sector employment is either
government or agriculture and additional 30% in construction and commerce combined. Unemployment in the country is high
in the PNG economy. Annual addition to the labor force is estimated at 50,000 persons and in 1996 it was estimated that
employment in the formal sector would grow by 50% in the 1990s. However, even then formal sector employment by the
year still accounts for only 13% of the economically active population.
The non-monetary/non-market sector of the economy, which include, self-employed agricultural small holders and
subsistence agriculture is an important sector for government goods and services and economic activity. More then 80% of
the people grow most of the food they eat. However, modern techniques of farming have had little impact to date on
subsistence farming. Coastal and river people undertake subsistence fishing. Some modernization has affected fishing, for
example motorized boats; modern material nets, but traditional materials and methods are still common.
Since 1981, the economy has been dominated by macroeconomic and social instability. Macroeconomic instability has
severely affected the ability of government to finance its national budget. It has forced it to cut funding and abolish some
service agencies. Higher education has borne the blunt of the government's decisions to slash funding to state agencies but is
still expected to create more places for many more students.
Implications
The implications of current development issues are that PNG must address the requirements of two often-conflicting sectors
of society. It has to provide qualified personnel to the growing modern and formal sectors and give equal attention to the
needs of the traditional, informal and subsistence sectors and implications of modernization such as lawlessness and disorder.
The 1992 PNG manpower assessment outlined the shortages of university graduates in the areas of engineering, and business
related subjects while technical college graduates have difficulty finding employment.
Higher education
Higher education linkage to the economy is important to understand the need for policy change in PNG. PNG governments
past and present desire the development of a vibrant private sector as a means of equal distribution of economic benefits and
has being working towards increasing the size of the economic pie than spending it. However in PNG demand for social
service outstrips resource and debt service amount to 50% of revenues raised. This puts great strain on the recurrent budget;
hence PNG is forced to devoting a great deal of attention to finding money for day to day activities. This raise questions
about how much should government pay and how much to be met by users, which include the non-formal setting. Major
economic, political, social policies and the need to control balance of payment disequilibrium are reasons why the country
should seriously looking at its priorities and undertake what it can be achieved within current resource constraints. These
challenges are phenomenal given the following statistics.
Access to higher education represent 0.3% of the entire population, while female enrollment is only 30.7% of all combined
enrolment in higher education institutions. The trend towards urbanization is slow with less than 15% of the population living in
urban communities. The PNG population is relative immobile with 85-90% still living in the provinces and local communities
in which they were born. Average life expectancy is 50 for men and 60 for females and it is a young population with a median
population of 20 years. Health care is a mix of modern and traditional, but basic health problems relate to respiratory
diseases, malaria, and gastro-intestinal diseases. Approximately 80% of the school-age children get formal primary education
to grade eight. The transition rate from primary to secondary education (grade 9-12) is close to 50%, but only 2% can find
places in post secondary institutions.
Why focus on the Community?
The over-riding purpose of the PNG higher education reform is to increase access and the sensitivity to the country's
continuing diversity of the social, cultural and economic needs. The policy that is generating policy debate in developmental
planning relates to the external efficiency of Higher Education or Community Impact, as I prefer to call it.
Community Impact of Higher Education
Consumer is the operative word for the discussions in this policy issue. The word consumer also means, "the society served"
by the higher education enterprise. The word customer and the "society served" may be used interchangeably and mean the
end users of service or functions needed but which cannot be done alone or in small groups. Society served is a neutral term
because of PNG's higher education general objectives. People and society served include students, faculty, administrators,
state, students' family members, and the general tax paying public or the rural villager with no access to the monetary
economy or western technology.
In PNG the rural villager and the recipient of higher education are critical, because of the essence of the modernization efforts
of the state. The benefits of students' education in the traditional setting out weights the generic private rate of return in the
form of better decision making, skills and attitudes is pivotal to national development.
Higher education is not only about equalization of educational opportunity but also respect for the contrasting and traditional
way of life in general. The belief in egalitarianism is a powerful factor in inducing this respect. Such was the reason why
intellectual elitism did not take root in some developed nations, because of the emphasis on the service of broadening and
deepening the entire national life of each person and society. The focus on developing all types of work contributes to
economic efficiency and increase in the health, wealth, and power of a nation. It is what theoreticians describe as social utility
of higher education, or intelligence -in-action.
The higher education in PNG is mandated through various legislation to respond to PNG's HRD needs. There is public
anticipation to find out how the higher education sector will improve the internal and external effectiveness of meeting the
social needs. The most serious problem identified among the institutions of higher education is their limited abilities to evaluate
the appropriateness of their curriculum and the effectiveness of their methodology. There are clear concerns about what is
happening to the higher education graduates and the sensitivity of higher education to the continuing diversity of social, cultural
and economic needs in PNG. The limited extent of the growth of the economy in terms of the overall number of economically
active people; informal, subsistence and non monetary components of the society will continue to play an important role in the
lives of many people in PNG. Hence, many of the graduates from the higher education institutions who do not secure
employment in the monetary sector would be expected to return or live in the informal sector. They could participate in the
monetary economy as teachers of others and so multiply the impact of their training on society. This is the theory anyway.
Concluding questions. Would a system of monitoring of the social effects of higher education be strong enough to measure if
higher education is of any worth? Would we measure the impact of higher education on peoples' health, education and
welfare in the very contrasting and traditional way of life of the people of PNG?
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