Sixteen (16) teachers from Central Province and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville received their Certificate Two in Early Childhood Education and Development.
They had attended a pilot program spearheaded the IEA College of TAFE and Digicel PNG Foundation.
The teachers now have an accreditation that is internationally recognised and it complements Digicel PNG Foundation’s investment in early childhood education centres and facilities.
IEA College of TAFE Manager, Dr William Pedley, said that TAFE was excited that it was a part of the Early Childhood Teacher training.
“It’s an honour and a privilege to come to PNG because I’ve been here for one whole month and into this really exciting program. We (TAFE) entirely concentrate on helping Papua New Guinea develop further, building up the number of jobs to increase the wealth of the average Papua New Guinean and I am delighted to say Digicel Foundation has the same vision. I see that we are the forefront of the development of this country and it is a privilege to be a part of this important organization,” said Dr Pedley.
CEO of Digicel PNG Foundation, Serena Sasingian acknowledged the program saying that Digicel Foundation began its’ investment in Early Childhood Education in 2008 when it launched its first mobile education centre.
“The Early Childhood Education program has grown to impact over 300 community volunteers who have been supported by the Digicel PNG Foundation to run in formal pre-schools in settlements and rural communities around PNG. We began looking to see how we could help give accredited qualifications to the teachers who were running these amazing early learning centres, so that’s when we approached the IEA College of TAFE to deliver this pilot program,” said Sasingian.
Sasingian said that the partnership was a significant step forward in helping the government implement its’ Early Childhood Education policy. Moreover, the pilot program had been running since last year by Pushpa Swaminathan an Education specialist who is an accredited trainer with the IEA College of TAFE.
The learning mode was a first of its’ kind in Papua New Guinea where it saw a mixed mode of both face-to-face classroom lectures and online video conference lectures, which is the future of learning.
To date, Digicel Foundation has invested approximately K150milion into Education and health projects in all the 89 Districts of Papua New Guinea.