North Goroka Primary School (no teacher today!)
Het na solda skru na lek, skru na lek
Het na solda skru na lek, skru na lek na
Ai nay au na nus na maus
Het na solda skru na lek, skru na lek
Guess the rhyme!
I have now had my first experience of reading to children
(200 of them!) at Buk bilong pikinini (Children’s books) a successful NGO in
PNG that works with pre-school children and their parents on early/basic
literacy. It is a superb organisation mainly run by local people and entirely
dependent on donations which appear to be forthcoming from local foreign businesses
wanting to do their social/cultural bit. They have a lending library of
children’s books and the librarians read to the children and teach them rhymes
as well as holding basic literacy classes for parents. The libraries in Port
Moresby are generally set up on the outskirts of town in the settlement areas
and serve a large community who otherwise would have no access to books.
I've also had my first experience of PNG elementary and
primary schools. The demonstration schools at PNGEI; named as such because they
are used by the Institute for demonstration lessons observed by teacher
training students.
After discussion with the Head Teacher of the Elementary
school the first thing that hits me is that teachers progress through good
classroom practice being recognised by inspectors. This includes progressing to
Head Teacher which can only be done by being recognised externally as an
excellent classroom practitioner. The Head Teacher in this elementary school still
had a year 2 class of 60 children. The Head Teacher cannot choose the staff
they want for their school, when a vacancy arises a new teacher is sent by the
teacher education division and by the same token a teacher cannot apply for a
promotion they must be seen by an inspector and recommended. This is a problem
as there are very few inspectors and schools are not inspected very often
therefore progression is difficult.
It appears that the situation is bagarup! Student teachers
can’t get qualified and existing teachers can’t progress due to an unmanageable
monitoring and evaluation system.
In the meantime at PNGEI I continue to try and find niches
where I can try to make a difference. Other volunteers on the Language Support
Programme have developed an English diagnostic test which I have adapted a
little for our residential elementary students. It is based on the year 6 SATs
tests for reading, spelling and writing.
Implementing the tests in itself proved to be a challenge!
Language classes are from 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. The bus usually collects me from my
flat at about 7:50. It is a 10 minute journey so I will be late. No problem
because the other language lecturer lives on campus so she will be there to
entertain the class until I get there. The first day Eddy our driver is later than
usual and I get to work at 8:15. I go straight to the classes (two of us are
covering 3 classes). The students are all there busy working but the other
lecturer is nowhere to be seen. I find out she never arrives before 8:40
because she waits for the school bus to pick her son up and take him to school.
She hadn't mentioned this before. As I have to go between 3 classes to get them
started we only get through the reading comprehension test in a two hour
session.
The next day I am prepared for an 8:30 start and with two of
us we should be able to get through spelling and writing. Wrong again. Eddy has
been drinking all night and so his bus keys have been taken from him and he’s
been ordered to sleep it off (we finally discover this at the end of the day
after hearing many other explanations, PNG nationals do not like to be the
bearers of bad news!). Therefore we were not collected until I rang a colleague
to see if anyone was collecting us. I arrive at work at 9:00 a.m. We manage to
get through the writing test; the spelling will have to wait for another day!
Just a small example of how something that appears so simple
can so easily prove otherwise!
Onward and upward, hey ho!
Hi Kate. Would be great to hear more about your experiences as I'm considering a placement in Mt Hagen. Could we email on jenniferwilliams@wateraid.org ?
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