Fifty-seven elementary teachers from across Manus Province completed their Certificates of Elementary Teaching on Friday via the Teach for Tomorrow project.
The project was delivered by the Kokoda Track Foundation (KTF), PNG Education Institute (PNGEI) and Manus Provincial Department of Education.
The Certificate enables partially trained teachers – some 7,500 across PNG – to upgrade their qualifications to meet the PNG Government’s new changes to the minimum qualifications required of elementary teachers. Without the additional six weeks’ training, the teachers would no longer be employable, putting at risk the schooling of hundreds of thousands of students.
The training, which was delivered with KTF’s Australian NGO Cooperation Program funding, was delivered over six weeks in facilities hosted by M’Bunai Community. It gave the 57 teachers the skills, knowledge and qualifications required for them to be registered as fully certified teachers, eligible to be on the Government’s payroll.
Manus is the sixth province in which KTF has delivered the Teach for Tomorrow training in partnership with PNGEI and the National Department of Education. To date, the partnership has trained 330 teachers in Oro Province, 37 in Gulf Province, 120 in Milne Bay Province, 540 in Morobe and 168 in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
“The teachers have been waiting for this training for many years and as a result of the past 6 weeks, are now eligible for full certification and transfer to Government payroll,” said Dr Genevieve Nelson, CEO of KTF.
The teacher graduates participated in a graduation celebration last Friday in the presence of their family and friends from the M’Bunai community. They were also given solar lights so they can prepare their class work after dark.
The new graduates take the total number of teachers trained by KTF to 1,252.
KTF will continue to roll out the training to more partially-trained elementary teachers in other provinces and is currently training 400 teachers across New Ireland Province.
(Manus elementary teacher graduates)
