Leonard Fong Roka
Section 25 of Bougainville Constitution is on Human
Resources Development and it plainly reads: ‘In recognition of the shortage of
the trained personnel who will be needed to develop Bougainville and implement
autonomy, the Autonomous Bougainville Government shall encourage human resource
development’.
 |
| Delphine Piruke |
This is a slam in the face for young trainee teacher,
Delphine Piruke of Madang Teachers College. Ever since entering Madang, she had
never felt the presence of the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) in
Madang Teachers College.
Delpine Piruke hails from Laguai in Buin, South
Bougainville. She was born in 1992 during the peak of the Bougainville
conflict. She completed her secondary school at Buin Secondary School in 2011
and entered Madang Teacher’s College in 2012 and will be graduating this year
with a Diploma in Education and return back to Bougainville.
To her, ABG is not providing the vital infrastructures of
learning back on Bougainville so we are everywhere like lost sheep. ‘In the 2012
Rabaul Queen incident many of our fellow Bougainvillean students perished and
suffered travelling in pursued of education outside our homeland which is not
supposed to be the case, ‘she said. ‘The ABG since formation should have
invested in partnership with churches and so on to create colleges, technical
schools and at least, a university on Bougainville where we should be learning
within our own environment instead of wandering around as nomads’.
To her the ABG has wasted time to actually materialize
Section 25 of the Bougainville Constitution in so many ways.
Recently there has being a conflict of interest between the
ABG and the Catholic Diocese of Bougainville on the proposed creation of a
university at Mabiri in Central Bougainville. According to a speech made by the
Bishop Bernard Onabali of Bougainville to Bougainvillean students of Divine
Word University, he stated that the ABG lacks concrete vision for the Bougainville
people’s future in terms of education as the Catholic Church is having.
So with that education vision, the bishop said that the
church was doing everything possible to raise funds and is confident that it
will start working on the university project at Mabiri by 2016.
For Delpine Piruke who is a Catholic this was good news and anger
for the ABG leadership since the first house. ‘I think the churches on
Bougainville should work hard and take the lead in helping Bougainville reach
its independence statues that we have fought for whilst the old visionless
politicians in the ABG just support the churches’.
She raised a collective concern that Bougainvillean students
have at her college that ABG leaders never visit them to give encouragement
since they are away from home. ‘We as students really miss Bougainville and so
often talk about the desire that we need colleges in Bougainville where we can
learn in the closeness of our families and environment of peace. Last year, one
of our students from Nissan Island was killed here by the Sepik squatter
settlers and every day we have thugs robbing us in town and on the road thus
leaders and people should think seriously of investing on educational
facilities on Bougainville. Bougainville is our home and we are free there then
on this strange place and in the midst of this PNG people’.
She also added that the education officers responsible to
visit Bougainvillean students namely the Appointment Officers and Recruitment
Officers never come around for us. ‘The education officers tasked with the duty
of coming out to colleges never visit us so this irresponsible act is resulting
in many of our teachers not returning back to Bougainville where we have the
responsibility of helping our island to be independent’.
Her pleas that the ABG, the churches and our people from
Buin to Buka and the atolls should think seriously about this issue because the
ABG also need us people to function well. It’s about time all educational
infrastructures and institutions are all in Bougainville.
Delpine Piruke will be graduating this December and plans to
teach in the Panguna District next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment