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Vice President says "weed" out educators not committed to teaching

POHNPEI, Palikir (FSM Information Service): September 2000 - Vice President Redley Killion, in his keynote address before Education Summit attendees Tuesday evening, called for the weeding out of educators not committed to their jobs.

This comment came in light of continuing poor college entrance tests scores of FSM students applying for admission to the College of Micronesia-FSM.

The Vice President told educators "[...] find out what is wrong and set out a plan of action that will fix the problems in our education system."

Adding that FSM students were just as inquisitive and capable of learning as any other children anywhere else, the Vice President said that a "skilled worker that does not care or does not feel commitment to his or her job is just as useless as an idle worker. And yet, he or she continues to be a drain on the budget without anything to show for in terms of production. Under the performance based budget system, which we have just adopted at the national and at the state levels of government, that sort of worker should be weeded out of the system."

Killion went on to say, "In the end, it may not be more money and material things that we need in the schools, but more caring and commitment to helping our children. And not just by the teachers and school administrators, but by the parents and other members of the community and the entire nation, as well."

He added that the governments "continue to pour thousands and thousands of dollars into the education system, year after year, and yet the situation remains or even worsens."

Early in the speech the Vice President said, "[...] during the last three years [...] a proportionately low percentage of our high school graduates are able to pass (the COM-FSM entrance tests). In fact, in one of our public high schools, only two percent of the graduates passed the test in one year."

The Vice President said that only six percent of all FSM freshmen are able to pass the college-level mathematics.

The Education Summit is a continuation of government efforts, which began in 1995 to bring about improvement in the delivery of government services.