Engans are dominating the university places in PNG which is different from the 1980s when there were very few of them. Some people say that it is because of Peter Ipatas' free education policy where he has made it easier for Engans to get educated in primary school, secondary and therefore tertiary education.

If this is true, he is PNG's number one governor.

Ipatas free education polisy has made the people of Enga realise the inportance of education. Hence, more Engans are studing hard and therefore are in universities.

you highlanders are the biggest group of ignorant donkeys in the world.

free education does not equal quality education.

i hope you fools enjoy driving pmvs and selling buai with a degree worth less than the paper its written on.

its because of knee jerk "impact" projects like this that screw up the country.

if ipatas had half a fcuking brain he would instead invest in upgrading the provinces existing schools, building more primary and secondary schools and investing in a tertiary instiution for the highlands.

what he chooses to do instead is send all the stupid fools from the highlands to the already packed and over populated coastal cities to fill up the limited spaces in the universities there.

and guess what happens when this sort or stupidity is allowed. you get an over populated city, filled with worthless graduates pumped out from a degree factory lining the streets and contributing nothing to the economy besides costing the tax payer millions, just so they can squat in the city, never returning to their own provinces.

i have nothing personal against highlanders, but you guys need to stop praising and worshiping your "leaders". start thinking critically about why the decisions are made by your elected officials and the possible future impacts of them.

STOP BEING STUPID!

there's cattle with more forethought and critical thinking than some of you people.

Who Do You think You are *** wipe.

I am a proud highlander who agrees with you completely.

Too many of us (but that includes lowlanders too) are cargo cult thinkers who only think of quantity of cargo in education (more free tuition, more double classrooms) and not quality.

That is why overall in PNG, our education standards have been slowly sinking.

Our universities are the laughingstock of the rest of the world. A graduate from UPNG or even Divine Word simply is not the quality graduate that you would get out an an average overseas university.

As a result, companies like ExxonMobil take one look at our capacity and say "no thanks" - then they quickly run adverts in India, Bangladesh, Fiji, Australia, etc to pull in much higher quality graduates even though India and Bangladesh especially are very poor developing countries.

It is because these resource developers can get better quality for less money from overseas.

Unfortunately I must say that most of our PNG new graduates make matters worse by acting like they know everything, ignorant of the fact that they know less than graduates from these same universities a generation ago.

Our students do not learn how to think critically because their teachers do not know how to think critically!!!! They are basically mindless passers of the curriculum onto the students like a machine, not like a thinking soul.

I do envy the Engans and what thier governor is doing for them. However, it has had both positive and negative effects as I have observed.

Due to the free education provided and more Engans are getting into tertiary institutions, I have watched some of thier egos grow to heights you can't just imagine logical. There are these Engans walking around, in numbers and being proud that they have their numbers. Some of them really do deserve a place in unis and colleges, some I just don't know how they got in, really. Becoz they keep failing repeatedly, and instead of being humbled by that fact and get thier heads in thier books to improve their situation, they beat thier chests, walk and talk around like they are royalty themselves. And come exam or assessment due dates, they are sliding bribes under doors or threatening and such to be given a grade they do not at all deserve.

With all due respect to the good standing citizens of Enga, I find the other end of the spectrum of behavior from the other lot so disgusting.

Free education??/that's where all the money is going,to free education and local rugby league teams for the Ipatas Cup.
How about developing wabag town and enga province in general?
Create jobs in Enga.
crazy stuff,if jobs aren't created we'll soon see engan university degree holders driving PMV and selling kakaruk legs on the streets.
Stupid,stupid,stupid.

Governments don't create jobs. Hard working private business entrepreneurs create jobs.

Maybe that's the reason why we're stuck in the mud in Enga and everywhere else cuz we think government will bring us jobs. That's never been the role of government anywhere else in the world although people sometimes forget that.

Quality and affordable Education and Healthcare are the much sought after services in Papua New Guinea. While the National Government is responsible for these provisions, provinces with large scale extractive industries like mining in their backyard could invest in exploiting the current high demand for these by building quality Education and Healthcare infrastructures. Enga with its Pogera Mine, political will and an educated human resource that is now in place is now strategically placed to go boldly further toward exploiting Education and Healthcare tourisms.

In Australia, for example, education has become a bigger business then tourism and has reached a figure of 12.5 billion dollars and is said to be an eye popping number. The only two that top education is the exporting of coal and iron ore (www.australia.edu).

As an example of the political will to drive investment in education this is one think-tank forum that I have access to have to say for the political leadership in Enga. “Peter Ipata’s vision was born and implemented some 10-15 years ago and is coming to realization now. Just the sheer number of Engans in any one state institution is an indication that his vision is coming to fruition now. Initially many thought this was a political gimmick. But by being consistent in providing funding to the schools, personally advocating the need for quality teacher/education and even at one point considering to bring in expatriate teachers to teach and impart quality education to his young Engans, his vision is now beginning to flower and will bear fruit soon. Although Peter Ipata’s may not be (the author’s) ideal kind of leader, he has got something that many of our leaders lacked: vision and determination to translate rhetoric to tangible gains.”

Healthcare tourism is racking in foreign revenue in Singapore. Raffles Medical Group's (RMG) hospital arm posted a 25-per-cent increase in foreign cases over last year. The increase coincides with record second-quarter revenue of 50.6 million Singapore dollars (37 million US dollars,) up 22.3 per cent from the corresponding period of 2007 (www.topnews.in/health)

From some news sources that were aired/published a short time back I recalled Peter Ipatas already working on improving health services in his province by signing some contracts/agreements with an American institution in the USA.

Enga might not bring in the kind of money in Australia and Singapore and these are just examples to show the potential in these undertakings. However, with the anticipated increase in cash flow in the coming years and seemingly deteriorating Education and Health infrastructures throughout the country I would like to think that there is now an internal local market for tourism in quality Education and Healthcare.

Already there are indications that Enga is pursuing this two prong approach in quality Education and Healthcare. With its provincial political leadership having done and doing the Path Finding, its human resources are now in place to do the Path Minding. The conditions in place and time are right for Enga to venture into Education and Healthcare tourisms.

I leave the potential spin-off for Engans themselves to conceptualize it and bring this to my conclusion that the challenge now for Enga is to provide a safe and secure environment, invest in building a strategic learning center (not just any learning center but a Medical University to strategically supply manning to power, strengthen and sustain Healthcare tourism that it is probably already embarking on for the province) and a modern Hospital.

Build it and Papua New Guineans in need will come! Good on you Enga!

I hate to burst your dreams but at the current state of Enga health and education AND at the rate things are changing, Enga won't be in a position to be competitive with Australia in the year 2011 for at least another 50-100 years. And of course, by the time that future rolls around, the Aussies will have continued to advance, be way ahead of us, and continue to get all the revenue.

Our problem as Papua New Guineans is that we are so isolated in information that we really don't see the big picture of where we stand OR we conveniently ignore facts that don't fit our little dreamlands.

So sad.

Firstly thank you for that thought provoking feedback and the in-province bottom-up perspective of the state of Education and Health in Enga.

Secondly let me make it clear from the outset that I am not from Enga but Enga’s current position and place in time is of interest and makes for a good case study to use as an example to progress other provinces in PNG.

Thirdly reference to educational tourism in Australia and healthcare tourism in Singapore were mere examples and in no way were implied to be the benchmark references that PNG, or Enga in this case, is expected to attain in our lifetimes. But any discoveries that advances knowledge, be it in Education or Health, belong to human kind. They are not racial or national. It is the same with music and good writing. These are physically located intime, place and people, but in their use and enjoyment, they belong to all and we can import these technologies.

And now on time limits, I do agree in some respects to your general pessimism about the fact that the chances of Papua New Guinea reaching the Australian education standard in our lifetimes are very slim. However, I chose to be optimistic and my optimism is futuristic and free of time. Having partially admitting to your glumness let me now drive home to all of us that we should not ignore facts but at the same time we should also not stop dreaming or thinking big. A major proactive and creative imagination killer is when we confine our hopes and aspirations in time and thinking less of the future generation but more of ourselves, the ‘What is in it for me?’ type mentality. Our visions should be selfless but not often and necessarily be time bounded.

Having shed the shackles of time I will go on further to say now that there is nothing wrong for Papua New Guineans dreaming up an ideal state of our countries well being. Most ideas begin with a vision that when adopted by a person, group, community, local level government, province and country can become a reality. A modern day example exists when Nelsen Mandela whose vision to host the 1995 Rugby Union World Cup was regarded as impossible and laughed at by many. But held it they did and through this singular sporting dream, envisaged by one person, an entire Nation was rebuilt and united.

Let me now try and put into perspective again my helicopter view as a non-Engan, why I think Enga is now strategically placed to venture into Educational and Healthcare tourisms if it so chooses. If you are an Engan you must leave your internal political bickering and step up above the noise to glimpse your potential as viewed from the outside. I will briefly explain it in these three concepts: Thinking Big, Starting Small and Acting Now.

In thinking big I generally think that there is an in-country market for quality and affordable Education and Healthcare. Does Enga’s position in time benefited it to now take steps to exploit these markets? I think so. Enga’s got the political will and the source of funds in the form of credits from the Pogera Mine and which I think is still operating profitably.

Having started small by investing in Human Resources development over the years Enga (should) now have the manning capacity that would be required for supporting the Educational and Healthcare tourism ventures.

Enga has the option to act now and invest in a modern medical institution and a modern hospital. These two infrastructures should complement each other very well by facilitating impartation of quality healthcare knowledge and supplying accredited medical practitioners to the new hospital.

Enga venturing into Educational and Healthcare tourisms, in my opinion and in light of the above observed and demonstrated facts, is a plausible dream but it will only take longer to realise if Enga (and PNG) succumb to pessimism and do not take those baby steps now.

Primitive attitude ie-tribal killings,payback,compenstaion demands etc etc have to be eradicated first before we even think of development.

The original poster doesn't have a clue as to what quality health and education really consist of. If he thinks any health or education facilities in Enga are within 50 years or less of being 'quality' he's holding his hands over his eyes.

@ dis is ridiculous

This is why I think Enga has potential:
1. It has a Demonstrable Political Will (For example, Having supported and subsidized education fees for its young citizens for 8+ years)
2. It has the Money
3. It has over the years invested in its Human Resource and now has the manning pool to draw from (both those from Enga or other PNGns).

While the concept of a quality Education and Healthcare for Enga may look ridiculuous to you it is only because you have bounded these concepts in time (Refer to my second post to Yu Guessed Wrong).

I am no expert in quality Healthcare and Education or what they should be. For the benefit of all could you state what they are and we can discuss if there is an 'internal market' for this in PNG. After all marketing these concepts of quality Healthcare and Education was what I think Enga now has potential to exploit.

Looking forward to a constructive response as I sincerely hope to bounce of ideas here.

YuGuess?

The location has to be one that people want to go to anyway. Like Gold Coast universities. Or Singaporean hospitals. Why would anyone want to go to Enga? To start, it's at the geographic backwoods of PNG. POM will always be more attractive, despite its drawbacks. The fact is that you're talking about people with money to travel and pay for good education and health and anyone who's got the money will NOT go to Wabag!

Thank you for bringing to the fore this 'attractiveness' insight.

The last word on this subject matter is 'Tourism'. What could pull people with money to come to this 'geographic backwoods of PNG'. There are many push factor challengers. For example, in my initial post I concluded that one of the challenges for Enga is also to create a safe and secure environment.

Achieving the best in-country Education and Healthcare that is affordable and of the highest quality could be the dominant pull factors that attracts Papua New Guineans to come to Enga. Anyone who's got the money could consider coming to Enga (Wabag) for these services and not necessarily for general site seeing as you have indicated.

education is free but are you really educated human beings. you can take the boy out of the wild life but you can never take the wild life out of the boy.

you say educated but most have the attitude of a primitive.

which people go around chopping their own kind, this is stone age mentality.

Be educated and act like one.