HAVING computers installed in schools with full access to internet is important in a digital world, says a community leader.
James Witti, representing the Kwip community in Mul-Baiyer, Western Highlands, told a crowd during the presentation of 15 desktop computers and other equipment that the donation was to boost learning. LiteHaus International, an Australian-based charity organisation donated the equipment to the school, in partnership with the Sir Brian Bell Foundation last Tuesday and IT company Niunet PNG set up their internet service the same afternoon. Witti, a grade 10 drop-out who was a tourist tour guide for some time in Port Moresby, said schools with access to internet could access information conveniently, whether it was learning materials, news, entertainment, social connectivity and others. FOUR female PNG Correctional Services recruits have been terminated for becoming pregnant during their six-month basic training at the Bomana Training College in Port Moresby, Commissioner Stephen Pokanis says. “These females were also involved in posting nude photos and sending them to serving warders through social media (Whatsapp and Facebook) while undergoing training,” Pokanis said. “Eight male recruits were also terminated for smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol at the college.” Pokanis said the female recruits were pregnant before entering the college. FLEXIBLE, open and distance education (Fode) teachers are undergoing training to present their lessons digitally.
Fode deputy principal for curriculum in Port Moresby, Dr Janet Subagan-Mondez, said the training was a collaboration between Fode and the Digicel Foundation which aimed to put Fode courses online and on TV. She said this was just one of the steps her office was taking in its longer term plan to have Fode accessible to students around the country. “This will pave way for Fode to really cater for different kinds of people in different areas because we can also get the video format later on and give it to our centres in the provinces, they can play it there and wait for the schedule of the TV programme to come on so we have other options to increase the accessibility for our services,” Subagan-Mondez said. A SENIOR provincial health official is suggesting that sexual reproductive health be taught by trained nurses in schools as part of the country’s education curriculum.
Morobe health authority chief executive officer Dr Kipas Binga suggested that children, especially in primary schools, should be taught about sexual and reproductive health by trained nurses. Dr Binga said this when presenting certificates to midwives from districts in Morobe, after attending a week-long workshop on sexual and reproductive, and public health in Lae last week. He said the particular strand on sexual and reproductive health was crucial for students to know early in life in order for them to be able to make better decisions later on. Papua New Guinea Prime Minister and Leader of the ruling Pangu Pati James Marape plans to make education free for all from elementary schools up to universities and colleges next year. He made the announcement when officiating at the ground-breaking ceremony for stage works of Simbai High School in Madang yesterday (May 27). A DISGRUNTLED group of service providers fronted up at the Education Department recently demanding the secretary explain why their outstanding payments have been delayed for 14 years. More than 100 contractors demanded Dr Uke Kombra explain the delay to settle payments for service provided to the department in 2007 and 2008 under the Rehabilitation Education Sector Infrastructure (Resi) programme. Dr Kombra said the case was still in court and nothing much could be done about it. He said there were three groups of contractors that were lodging claims against the State, one being the Resi contractors. Another was from Hohola and the third one from the National Capital District. MANY girls in Papua New Guinea first learn about menstruations in school instead of at home, Lae Christ the King Primary School head teacher Celestine Kiminja says. “I have been teaching for the past 30 years and the topic of menstruation often surprises schoolgirls,” she said. “That is because the topic is regarded as taboo by society and even mothers do not talk to their daughters about it. “Sometimes, when the girls see their first ‘flow’ in school, they get emotional and cry because they do not know what is happening to them.” Kiminja said teachers had to teach students, including schoolboys, about their reproductive system so that they understood about growing up. NEW primary school graduate teachers have to undergo an entry test to be qualified to teach in schools in Jiwaka, Jiwaka education adviser Dr Charly Muke says.
“The entry test is conducted because the provincial education board (PEA) wants to ensure quality teaching and education,” he said. Dr Muke said the test was conducted to see the level of knowledge new graduates had related to basic mathematics and literacy before posting them. THE sustainable Highlands Highway investment programme (SHHIP), co-financed by the Asian Development Bank, is not only developing critical transport infrastructure. The project is also training the next generation of civil engineers who will continue to connect communities for decades to come. Maclayia Au and Rosemary Enoka are graduate trainee engineers from the University of Technology of Papua New Guinea who are currently working on the highway in Goroka, Eastern Highlands. Both young professionals talk with pride about how they intend to use their careers to improve rural communities’ access to basic services. Au said she had seen firsthand the importance of good road connectivity for rural communities. “In 2018, I was responsible for constructing a 7km-long missing link road between the districts of Mt Hagen and Tambul-Nebiliyer, with assistance from Japan,” she said. COMPUTER laboratories are being set up in 20 primary schools in Western Highlands. The facilities were sponsored by LiteHaus international, an Australian non-government organisation, in partnership with Sir Brian Bell foundation and Niunet. LiteHaus founder and chief executive officer Jack Growden was at the presentation of 15 desktop computers, which would be connected to the internet, and a television to the St Paul’s Kuskomb Primary School in Tambul-Nebilyer on Thursday. Growden said the school was one of 20 to benefit from LiteHaus’ digital infrastructure programme to set up e-learning labs . |
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