Association aims to help bring back quality education

The La Sallian Alumni Association of Papua New Guinea is helping to bring back quality education to schools through fundraising activities.
The association held its first ever fundraising event with loads of activities in coordination with other La Sallian schools at Bomana on Saturday.
Vice president of the association Bona Kolopi said: “I’m from the 90s era, I finished in 1997, but what I’ve seen over the years is that the education level has dropped.
“So three years ago, we started this initiative to raise it and it has been very good to see the rankings improved last year; grades 10 and 11 finished 10th last year and that’s what we want to help bring back to the school,” he said.
“A lot of the times we can’t blame the government for not getting the assistance or things done and we see a lot of support coming in so the funds that are raised today will go towards establishing the De La Salle alumni and then working towards helping the school in any way we can.”
Former students set up 35 stalls and Bomana inmates constructed a stage for the master of ceremony.
Inmates also put up a stall as part of their community engagement project and sold plants and recycled items.
Other stalls were set up by City Pharmacy Limited, Origin Energy, the National Maritime Safety Authority and Telikom PNG.
“We have an alumni group account and the funds collected will be used by the association for future projects in the school,” Kolopi said.
The association was formed three years ago by De la Salle Secondary, Mainohana Catholic Secondary School, Jubilee Catholic Secondary school, Sacred Heart Teacher’s College and Holy Trinity teacher’s college. “One of the things we try to do is participate within our communities because after all, we want to instil in the youngsters, values of community engagement and giving back to the community,” he said.