Digicel PNG Foundation recently marked the commencement of the construction of its first ever, two-storey double classroom project at the Barakau Primary School ground breaking ceremony in Central Province.
The momentous occasion is in celebration of Digicel Foundation’s yearlong Tenth Anniversary Celebration, with the gifting of new classrooms to its inaugural education infrastructure project in 2008 at Barakau Primary School.
The Project will cost K1 million and will consist of 4 classrooms fully kitted with 160 desks, blackboards, 2 teachers’ office spaces with desks, solar powered lighting and a WASH component with toilets, showers and water tanks.
Barakau Primary School was the first and only education infrastructure built from timber, out of 615 education steel infrastructure that have been erected over the past 10 years all across the country.
“Education is single biggest opportunity one can give a child and it is for this reason that this remains high on Digicel PNG Foundations focus,” said Beatrice Mahuru, CEO of Digicel Foundation.
“It takes up to 60 percent of our budget. In our 10th anniversary year, we have a full calendar of programs to celebrate our beneficiaries, to bring their stories to the fore whilst continuing to deliver our health and education infrastructure projects across the country.
“We have moved from being a new player to a trusted partner and we thank our Government of PNG and other donor partners for their collaboration and our communities for their trust.”
Digicel Foundation’s motto is to ‘Create a world where no one gets left behind’.
Mahuru is adamant that this can be achieved with partnerships at all levels and innovatively take our people forward to pace with the world around us.
Digicel PNG Foundation is delighted that its initial infrastructure has positively impacted the lives of the students who had gone through it, with many success stories including that of Karen Adam.
As a primary school student, Adam desired to one day work for Digicel who redeemed them from sitting under trees or semi-permanent shelter for classes into modern infrastructure.
Twenty-four-year-old Adam now works for Digicel as the document controller for the technical team, a job she gained from her own application merits after completing high school and tertiary following her primary years at Barakau Primary School.
Established in October 2008, Digicel PNG Foundation has directly invested K85.98 million (US$27.03) in rural remote and socially marginalised communities across all 22 provinces, directly impacting over 785,000 people.