West Papua Governor Paul Waterpauw Forms Education Development Acceleration Team

Acting Governor of West Papua Paulus Waterpauw (ANTARA/Tri Adi Santoso)

MANOKWARI - The West Papua Provincial Government has formed a team to accelerate education development to improve the quality of education in the area.

Acting Governor of West Papua Paulus Waterpauw admitted that serious handling was needed to improve the quality of education in the region, so a special team needed to be formed.

"This problem is very concerning and it is time for us to take very serious attention so that our human development index continues to rise high", he said as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, October 14.

The head of the special team who is also an academic from the University of Papua, Doctor Agus Sumule. The team was assigned by the Governor of West Papua Paulus Waterpauw to find the right formula and quick solution to the problem of education.

He also hopes that by cooperating with academics and using private educational universities and the Faculty of Education, Unipa can answer the needs of teachers in West Papua.

Agus Sumule said the total need for teachers in West Papua is for schools that already have 5,507 people.

"Of course this is not an easy job but it must be addressed immediately", he said.

According to Agus, the progress of education has shown improvement since the implementation of the first Special Autonomy in 2001, but some obstacles continue to be faced by the regions.

"The progress of Special Autonomy for education is undeniable, but there are still problems, such as a shortage of teachers", he said.

He said more than IDR 1.2 trillion was available for the development of education in West Papua Province in 2022, sourced from the Special Autonomy Fund and oil and gas revenue-sharing funds.

"From this amount of funds need to be allocated for teacher recruitment and training, including for the construction of additional educational facilities", he said.