Education’s foibles

By TONY KIP
TAMBUL Christian Academy, an Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) agency is looking forward to a brighter future after it agreed to simultaneously run the national curriculum recognised by the National Department of Education this year.
Eight Grade 8 students sat for their national examinations in November with the rest of the public schools that come under the department.
This is the first time that the school was allowed to have its students certified under the National Department of Education system.
These students will now be able to do Grade 9 next year in any schools in the country. They are Levai Dariako and sister Nelly from Kopiago,
Hela, Angai Erepo from Tari, Rhonda Golang from Kudjip, Jiwaka, Jennifer John from Ialibu, SHP, Lovey Joseph from Tambul, Tracy Philip from Tambul, and Simon Tandape from Tari.
In the last 22 years since American Missionary Sister Eleanor Jones started the school in 1994, TCA (Tambul Christian Academy) has been using the ACE curriculum designed in America.
Principal Joseph Kakaru said after the Grade 8 graduation on Nov 23 that it is “a moment of joy” after they struggled against odds to have their children continue to high and secondary schools in the country.
“Since TCA is affiliated with Mt Carmel High School in Lexington, Kentucky, USA and the curriculums are American standard, our school was not recognised.”
“Most of our students passed out from Grade 10 in this school but they could not make it to Grade 11 in other schools in the country.”
Their students found it hard to continue on to Grade 11 because they sat an exam that was not recognised by the national education system. In fact, the students were told to repeat Grade 10 in other schools so that they could sit the Grade 10 exam recognised by the education department.
Most parents who did not want their children to repeat grades in PNG have been opting to send their kids to the US to do Grades 11 and 12. Every year, Grade 10 students are sent to the US to do Grade 11 and 12.
According to the principal, they have seen off 27 students from TCA to Mt Carmel High School and other affiliated schools since 2000.
After Grade 12, some of these students had decided to continue on to a university or college in America under the sponsorship of their parents. Kakaru added that TCA has produced lawyers, doctors, accountants, nurses, teachers, pastors and missionaries.
Many are already working in various fields both in PNG and overseas.
Tambul Christian Academy is a ministry arm of the PNG Bible Church Inc. with all its curriculum Christ-centred and based on the Word of God.
School chaplain Pastor Kenneth Galuwa said students are instructed by experienced supervisors, some of whom have attended colleges in America.
Others have ACE training certificates that qualify them to teach and the result is excellent. TCA runs programmes from kindergarten to Grade 10. At kindergarten level, toddlers at the age of five already can read and blend words fluently.
“We have a programme that can stimulate kids to pronounce vowels and consonants by looking at signs written on top of the learning materials taught.
“It’s an interesting programme that has profound learning mechanisms that invigorate students’ mental capability to grasp what is taught in their earlier stages of life,” Galuwa said.
The school is thankful to the Education Division for allowing its Grade 8 to sit the national examination this year.
These students have graduated and are awaiting their results to qualify for high school entry. TCA is a boarding school with dormitories that cater for students from all over PNG.
It has a computer laboratory for information technology classes and
offers adult learning programmes where semi educated adults have enrolled to read and write.
TCA prioritises on academic excellence, spiritual development, character building and discipline.
The principal proudly added that school fees charged are reasonable compared to other ACE schools in PNG with day students paying K1000and boarders paying K2500 annually.
The school is located within the Tambul Bible School campus within a well-kept and beautiful environment.
The campus almost resembles a school setting in America. This is not surprising as the place was established by Americans in 1972 as a training school for pastors.