Early childhood educators attend training

TEN dedicated teachers serving children in remote communities in Hela and Gulf are able to attend annual Buk bilong Pikinini (BbP) teacher refresher training programme in Port Moresby this week, thanks to Oil Search Foundation (OSF).
The Santos funded OFS was working with the BbP to support early childhood education training to invest in early education in Papua New Guinea.
The foundation, in a statement, said the group of seven women and three men from Fugwa and Habare in Hela and Kikori in Gulf joined 40 other early childhood educators nationwide committed to help the next generation build their education journey through a solid foundation.
The training included an introduction to digital learning, providing innovative ways to access reading materials beginning this year.
“This will greatly reduce the challenges of physically moving large quantities of books from Port Moresby to literacy libraries located in the Santos project impact area communities in Hela, Gulf and Southern Highlands,” the foundation said.
“Over 840 children have graduated from the OSF literacy library programme since 2018.”
Cathy Morris, a basic literacy teacher of 80 children in Kikori, said it wasn’t an easy journey leaving her family behind in a remote place to travel to Port Moresby.
She said, however, seeing the positive results of the literacy library in her community over the years motivated her to continue making an impact through her role as an early childhood educator.
Pale Mbipe, from Hela, said such programmes were not available in Fugwa and North Koroba.
“We want to see the children excel in early childhood learning so they can continue school equipped with the fundamental tools they need.”