Western Provincial Member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) for Ward 10, Iriqilaa, North Vella Lavella, Hon. Freedom Tozaka has called for an urgent education conference to be held no later than June 2026 following poor academic performance by secondary schools in the province.
Hon. Tozaka made the call in light of the 2025 academic results released by the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development (MEHRD), which showed Western Province schools failing to feature among the country’s top 10 secondary schools.
“In view of the academic results and performances of all Western Province schools against the top 10 secondary schools mentioned by MEHRD at the end of 2025 I strongly call for an urgent education conference for all key stakeholders in the province,” Hon. Tozaka told Solomon Star in an interview on Monday.
He said the Western Province Government must take responsibility by budgeting for and fully funding the proposed conference, stressing that education is a critical foundation for development.
“This conference must involve all education providers, school leaders, community leaders, business representatives and other resourceful stakeholders to review and re-strengthen academic performance in all our secondary schools,” he said.
Hon. Tozaka said the conference should focus on access to education, management effectiveness and improving quality across all sectors of education service delivery, while also producing a clear strategic education plan for Western Province.
He also raised serious concern over the 1,592 students who were not placed in schools for the 2026 academic year, as highlighted by MEHRD.
“This is a very big issue. What are we as leaders going to do with these unplaced students?” he asked.
“If we do not place them in our secondary schools or rural training centres, do we even have enough spaces for them?”
According to Hon. Tozaka, lack of access will only increase school dropouts and expose young people to higher social risks.
“The higher the dropouts, the higher the risks. That is why access must be a key part of our planning,” he said.
Hon. Tozaka further linked education performance to Western Province’s aspirations for statehood, warning that weak human resource development could undermine future progress.
“We cannot become a state government if our human resources are not performing academically, as reflected in the 2025 results,” he said.
“If we want statehood, we must take our human resources seriously. Human beings own the state.”
He reiterated his call for the provincial government to act without delay.
“It is very important for the Western Province Government to budget for and finance this proposed education conference by June 2026 so we can seriously discuss our children’s education — for today and for the future,” Hon. Tozaka said.
By ULUTAH GINA
Solomon Star, Gizo
