National Literacy Week kicked off this week as the Minster of Education, Jimmy Uguro officially declared the literacy week open as of Monday the 4th of September at Hoskins Secondary school in West New Britain Province. This saw students, teachers and other working staff of Hoskins Secondary join in this significant event with the aim to promote the importance of literacy in the country. According to Minister Uguro, the literacy program is very important in the country as one of the government’s aim is to make sure that no one is left behind in terms of education. “All children must be educated and with that the education department is now redesigning its system and process to ensure that no child is left behind and that we have less school drop outs in the country.” With the government now paying 100% of the tuition fee subsidy for all schools throughout the country from elementary to secondary as well as paying 100% fee subsidy for all FODE schools, Minister Uguro said this paves a way for all students to learn as much as they can and this starts with literacy. Uguro also added that although the education sector is teaching as many children as they can every day, there are still many illiterate ones out there who have not been reached on time and this not only includes youths and children but also adults and the elderlies. “For any illiterate ones out there, they are not forgotten." "We are working towards making sure that we reach you and this is why our schools, parents and the education department are gearing up for this event on your behalf trying to find a way to reach you lot so that you can be educated too.” Minister Uguro further challenged the Education Department to revisit those areas of the disadvantaged where they don’t have the privilege of receiving education and how they can be trained. He further stated that a plan must be put in place to further the knowledge of literacy and improve the literacy rate in the country. “We want to ensure as part of our plan in the future that there we have literacy coordinators in each of the districts throughout the country." "The role of each district coordinator must know how many illiterate people are there.” “We have developed our fifty-year vision, from 2025-2075 to make sure we maintain and reconstruct the way we do business in terms of education, so this is one sector we need to shape in the future going forward so that we include those that are unfortunate to be fortunate in the near future.” Moreover, Minister Uguro commended all those taking part in this year’s National Literacy Week as well as those provinces who have hosted in the previous years for their contribution towards making a difference in literacy in PNG. He encouraged all students to help make a difference and to help those both young and old who cannot write and who cannot read to help teach them.