Thursday 10 June 2021
On Tuesday 8 June this week, the Public Service (PS) Commissioner Carl Hunter hosted three Level 3 Commerce students from Tereora College – Jiandunel Bertram, Ava Wyllie and Tutai Kino along with teachers Mrs Praneeta Kumar and Ms Moana Tauraa to the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Hon Mark Brown’s Budget Breakfast.
The Breakfast was an initiative by PS Commissioner Hunter to explore ways to support senior students leaving secondary school by introducing them to key events in the Public Service calendar and employment opportunities in the Public Sector.
The Breakfast provided the students with the information they needed to understand the context in which the Cook Islands Government Budget is developed and the priorities that Government will be focusing on in the medium term. They questioned the PS Commissioner, why the Education sector only received 7.6% of the total allocation of the Budget. The allocation of the Budget was largely determined by the impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the local economy but also Government’s determination to support the private sector get back on its feet.
Prime Minister Brown confirmed to those in attendance that he expects the Public Service to provide an enabling environment to support the further strengthening of the private sector. Mrs Kumar confirmed that the Breakfast was welcomed given that for students recently completed an assessment on the interdependence of the sectors of the economy and the Prime Minister’s address demonstrated the real-world application of the concepts learned in class.
The Office of the Public Service Commissioner will soon meet with senior Tereora College students later this month to give the students a little insight into the different career opportunities/expectations in the Public Service.
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