Theo Zurenuoc
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The Honourable Theo Zurenuoc CMG MP |
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Governor-General of Papua New Guinea Acting |
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In office 18 February 2017 – 28 February 2017 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister | Peter O'Neill |
| Preceded by | Sir Michael Ogio |
| Succeeded by | Bob Dadae |
| Speaker of the National Parliament | |
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Assumed office 3 August 2012 |
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| Preceded by | Jeffrey Nape |
| Minister for Education | |
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In office 8 August 2011 – 3 August 2012 |
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| Prime Minister | Peter O'Neill |
| Preceded by | James Marape |
| Succeeded by | Paru Aihi |
| Member of Parliament for Finschhafen Open |
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Assumed office 6 August 2007 |
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| Preceded by | Guao Zurenuoc |
| Personal details | |
| Political party |
Independent, then People's Progress Party, then People's National Congress Party |
Theodore Zibang Zurenuoc, CMG is a Papua New Guinean politician.
He was first elected to the National Parliament in the 2007 general election, as independent MP for Finschhafen District in Morobe Province, though he subsequently joined the People's Progress Party. He won the seat by defeating the incumbent, his cousin Guao Zurenuoc. Previous members of the Zurenuoc family to have held the seat include his father Zibang Zurenuoc (elected in 1977), and his uncle Zure Makili Zurenuoc.
In 2009, during a parliamentary debate on a government bill which would have seen women nominated to Parliament, Zurenuoc opposed the idea of nominated parliamentarians, but said he would support reserved seats for women specifically to elect representatives.
At the start of August 2011, Zurenuoc supported a successful parliamentary motion of no confidence which brought down the government of Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal (standing in for Somare while the latter was hospitalised for a serious heart condition), enabling Peter O'Neill to become Prime Minister. O'Neill appointed Zurenuoc as his Minister for Education. One of the O'Neill government's first announcements was that it would commit funds to providing free primary education to all children in the country, and subsidised secondary education. Faced with questions about funding, Zurenuoc stated: "We can and will find the money to execute this objective, we will cut out fats of the budget and fund this worthier cost. [...] We will sacrifice expenses in other less important areas to give undivided attention to this noble task of giving our children a future that they have been deprived of for so long." He also said all classes should be in English in primary schools, with classes in indigenous languages abolished, and that outcome-based education should be abandoned, since many teachers considered it to be "suppressive, irrelevant, outdated and not working".
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Wikipedia