The development of the country’s human resource through improvements to education and support provided in this area, should be the priority of the State going forward.
That was the message from Mr. Collin Pake the Director of Life PNG Care, a charity organization that takes care of unfortunate children and supporting them through formal education.
Mr. Pake said the number of young children out on the streets of Port Moresby and other main centers in the country, is concerning because the number is growing and what must be done now is to have better mechanisms in place to get these children out of the streets and get them into some form of education program to help their lives. To develop the human resource through helping these children.
He said the government seems to be focusing its attention on the resource sector like oil and gas, hosting conferences and forums to attract investments into this sector. However, these resources will one day go and the only one that will remain will be the human resource of this country.
He said the government should be also encouraging more investments in the education sector to help develop the human resource.
“Human resource is the key resource that Papua New Guinea (PNG) Government needs to invest in. Don’t believe in oil and gas becasue these are non- renewable, and they will extinct one day,” said Mr. Pake.
“With the number of kids that are on the streets, it’s a pandemic in itself. It’s a time bomb waiting to explode.”
Mr. Pake said Life PNG Care has gone to Lae city and the situation is the same in the city of Port Moresby where a lot of homeless children are just on the streets either begging or doing some form of informal business, which he said is a very sad sight to see.
He said the State needs to help these unfortunate and vulnerable people because these children are the future leaders of PNG and helping them through providing proper education and support, should be a good way to go moving forward.