Families of 17,772 Grade 12 Leavers last year (2020) are disappointed at this time because their sons and daughters will not make it to a university or a college in 2021.

This is an unfortunate situation.

The Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (DHERST) informed the public recently that only 9,371 Grade 12 Leavers secured places in universities and colleges out of a total of 27,143 who applied to study in the different tertiary institutions in 2021. The Secretary of DHERST Professor Father Jan Czuba stated that those who will not find a place in a university or college make up 67% of the Grade 12s who applied for places and only 33% were successful.

Prof Czuba informed the public that a total of 30,000 students enrolled in Grade 12 classes in 188 secondary schools and six national high schools across Papua New Guinea in 2020.

It is disappointing that a majority of the Grade 12 Leavers will not make it to universities and colleges in 2021. Similar large numbers of Grade 12 Leavers did not secure a place at higher learning institution over the year and the situation is not likely to improve into the near future.

The situation is what is because it is how our country has found itself in due to our collective decisions and indecisions after 45 years of independence.

It is the outcome of our lack of foresight and planning in preparing for the growth in population and expansion of the economy.

Who do we blame? In my opinion, there is no one to blame but all of us, the citizens, collectively.

We, the citizens, chose the generations of Members of Parliament (MPs) that made decisions and took the actions that did not improve the capacities of our higher learning institutions or progressively build new ones in the provinces in line with the growth in population. There is a youth bulge in our country.

Some say the youth bulge is a time bomb waiting to explode in the face of the political, economic and social landscape of our country. The issue alone requires the mandated decision-makers and policy-makers and all other stakeholders including the parents and community members to be wary of and come up with strategies to address it.

If the “systemic and systematic” corruption, to borrow the late Sir Mekere Morauta’s words, is a contributing factor to the poor or lack of funding to build the capacity of higher learning institutions or build new tertiary institutions, we cannot blame anyone else?

We voted the type of MPs who made the decisions in cahoots with the bureaucrats they work with or influence that have resulted in the poor growth in the higher education sector. In some electorates, voters keep sending to Parliament men implicated in various corruption cases. We all know and talk about the magnitude of corruption in our country and yet do very little collectively minimize this national ill.

Many citizens are also responsible for corrupt practices by expecting MPs to ensure they get the government contracts, for example. Some of the citizens do this as repayment for supporting the MP when he was a candidate in cash, kind and votes in the last national election. The practice is somewhat tied into PNG’s traditional customs of reciprocity in giving and receiving. (I previously wrote about campaign funding and expectations of rewards when a candidate win.)

We the citizens have to cop some of the blame, if capacity constraints in higher education institutions and expansion of the sector has not been properly addressed because corruption in high offices chewed up public funds and there is little to go around for all the development needs.

The issue of rapid population growth is out there. Nowadays, families are having more children than they can afford to raise in terms of education fees and so forth. Our mandated leaders tried to address this issue by increasing access to education for the growing population at the lower level of education – from secondary school down. Since the early 1990s, with the development of the secondary school concept through donor funding, our nation is blessed with 188 secondary schools and six national high schools, which is two more than the original four national high schools. This is great on the one hand. But, the higher education sector has barely expanded. There have been moderate expansion with the conversion of several former colleges into universities. Some provincial governments like Enga and Chimbu have opened teachers colleges and nursing schools. Others have opened technical colleges or technical high schools. This is great.

However, formally as a nation, we have not really invested in planning and resourcing the growth of the higher education sector overall. Our four State universities struggle to stay above water with their budgetary limitations every year. The two private universities also try to do their best to provide for our children amidst their limitations.

In this regard, it must be said that the previous government of then Prime Minister Peter O’Neill deserves commendations for starting the Western Pacific University in Southern Highlands Province which is set to begin its maiden academic year in a few weeks’ time. The WPU can only grow and enroll more students next year and the subsequent years with appropriate government support. This is a study opportunity that was not there for our children until now.

My main contention though is that not everyone can make it universities or colleges – some will fall by the wayside due to various reasons. That is the fact of life all over the world.

It is must be also said that not everyone who has succeeded in life had a university degree. Many of the great inventors and discoverers in history never had a university degree. The same goes for the great entrepreneurs of the world and even within our country. There are some wonderful entrepreneurs in our country who only had a basic high education or less. These are persons that did not have a plethora of information on the Internet or Facebook that self-thought them on how to do business and be successful. The business prowess came from their shear will and determination to do something, safe their earnings and make their investments grow.

The moral message in this is that our 17,772 Grade 12 Leavers of 2020 who cannot make it to a university or college this year should not be disappointed at all. There are alternate opportunities out there to seize upon if someone was interested and looked hard enough. This is where parents and older brothers and sisters must help the Grade 12 Leavers to search for this alternate opportunities. The most important thing is the Grade 12 Leavers know how to read and write and understand basic arithmetic and like skills.

Parents and older siblings of a family have the moral responsibility to point this young people to thousands of self-help entrepreneurial tools and suggestions that are out there on the Internet and on Facebook. For the Grade 12 Leavers, please find these sites and learn how to do certain things to make money at your home and in your own pace. There are many helpful Facebook pages in this regard as well. Get to know them and access the information. You never, if do try one of this opportunities on the Internet and Facebook you might be on your way as a self-made entrepreneur in four years while some of Grade 12 classmates are cracking their heads in universities after paying so much money in tuition fees.

After all, it is about making ends meet and leading a resourceful life. You can do that by being self-thought entrepreneur by using information that is out there on the Internet and Facebook. Make use of them.

Always remember that university education is not for all – and that does not mean you are failure or outcast in society. It is a fact of life all over the world.