By CHARLES KADAMANA
Premier of Guadalcanal Francis Sade has commended the Anglican Church of Melanesia for taking the lead in investing in the education sector.
Speaking at the dedication and laying of the foundation stone of the proposed John Coleridge Patteson University in North Guadalcanal on Saturday, he said the first education institutions in the country were established by churches.
He said the government “came behind” and he wished to reiterate to the churches to continue taking the lead in education because “our country needs society that has values”.
He said his provincial government will continue to work together with churches to promote values and for that they are giving back some of the schools to be run by churches.
He said in most public schools the children are not behaving well compared to schools run by churches.
“I see in most public school, the children are not behaving as what we are expecting. We need our people to behave so that they respect each other and you can only find that on schools run by churches.
“I wish to congratulate every church in taking part in education sector of this country,” Premier Sade said.
He said his provincial government will continue to support and work with every education authority to make sure the partnerships with his government are strengthened so that everyone can deliver the education goal of the government in the country.
“With what we do here, I am proud that we continue to develop our country through Guadalcanal province and my government will continue to support in the development that is coming up and we will continue to render our support whether technical or in other areas where the churches need to work together in this university,” he said.
He encourages the community around the area of Malango and Tasiboko to respect the project.
He said the proposed university will benefit their future generation.
He said investment in education is one of the keys to sustainable development and so the community should take pride of it.
