Being a teacher is hard with all the moving around but behind every successful man is a woman, a wife… and with every successful woman, the husband is there.
I have been a teacher for 27 years during my career my wife supported me.
My am from Hula in Central Province. My name is actually Kwara Kune and it refers to the first arrival of the London Missionary Society (LMS) church in our area. I am 49 years old and I have a big family. I started with having three boys that came first but I felt I had to balance it out so my wife had three girls, making it six children. My wife and I are from the same area.
My work started in NCD, where I served for two years before I went over to the Central Province. In the sixth year of my teaching career, I became a headmaster, which was in 2001, until now I have been looking after schools. This is my second year at Tubusereia Primary school, looking after the school and I am so proud.
Since most of the things I am really aiming to do are working out, especially in projects. My other dream of having a library in this school is finally coming into existence with the help of organisations like the Digicel Foundation and Buk Bilong Pikinini.
This is my 27th year of teaching with 21 years spent looking after schools as a head master.
Growing up, I wanted to join the Defense Force and become a soldier, when I was filling in my school leaver form in high school, this was what I was aiming for. But, one of my cousins in Madang Teachers College at that time wrote me a letter saying that I should apply to a teachers college and become a teacher.
He told me that it was a profession that would allow me to work with children and that is where I changed my first choice on my school leaver form.
In 1991, I began my studies at Madang Teachers College. We were the second lot of diploma graduates to pass out from the college. In 1994 we graduated from the college.
In 2014, I went back to school for my Bachelors Degree and took up a school leadership and management course that was offered with the degree course at the PNG Education institute (PNGEI). We were the pioneer students for that course. I spent two years there and graduated in 2016.
I am hoping to retire from teaching after maybe 35 years. This is my 27th year and I have seven to eight more years left to work tirelessly to achieve some of the goals that I have set. One of them I have achieved, and that is being a headmaster of a level seven school in the Central province. I am so proud to have achieved that.
The second thing I have helped to achieve is the 8-in-one classroom built at Tubusereia Primary School. I thank the Digicel Foundation, these are things that every head teacher wishes for their school. It is a model classroom and the first of its kind in the province, maybe even the country. For having this type of facility in the village school is an achievement for a head teacher and I am very proud.
Before I retire, my last goal will be to elevate the status of this school and make it to a Day High School, I will look back at my career with much pride and joy. Finally, with the academic side, I really want the children, especially the grade eights to excel. It is the dream of every headmaster to see that all their students should make it through to the next stage in their education.
So I am very happy that we are having our library built because libraries are the supporting factor that will help build our students academically.