EDUCATION

College steps up for the future

By ELIAS LARI
INFRASTRUCTURE development can contribute meaningfully towards students learning and at the same time boost morale in teaching.
This will raise the standard of education in an institution and students can learn better.
Many schools and institutions of higher learning are struggling to erect buildings to bring changes but most plans do not work out well.
School governing councils or boards do have visions but it requires smart people to make things happen.
When required infrastructure and learning materials are in place, teachers or lectures can have the comfort and confidence to commit their time and energy to contribute meaningfully towards the country’s human resources.
In many cases like in primary or secondary schools, management and staff can shoulder the blame of poor performance but parents and guardians should also know that extra classrooms and better learning materials do make a difference.
According to educationists, infrastructure developments make a big difference in learning and in raising the level of education in institutions.
Some institutions lack major infrastructure developments which can become a setback or contribute to the lack of quality learning and destroy staff reputations.
Teaching staff can be professionals but without proper learning materials nothing much can be done too.
Holy Trinity Teachers College (HTTC) in Mt Hagen, Western Highlands believes being well-equipped with good infrastructure is the key to better learning outcomes
Since its establishment in 1957, the college is gradually undertaking major infrastructure development under the leadership of Principal Michael Miamel, chairman of the governing council Hugo Kop and Archbishop of Mt Hagen Archdiocese, Douglas Young.
A few developments have already taken place like the administration block, IT centre and classrooms.
Apart from the infrastructure development is the new multi-million kina college chapel built at a cost of K7 million.
This chapel will accommodate about 700 people. It was jointly funded by the Catholic Joint Venture Agency comprising of the archdioceses of Mt Hagen and Madang, and the dioceses of Goroka, Kundiawa, Mendi and Wabag.
The chapel was described as the first of its kind to be built by a church in an institution.
The official opening of the chapel was held in mid-August with three days of celebration that started from Aug 14.
The chapel was officially opened by Cardinal Sir John Ribat and witnessed by the joint venture bishops.
Traditional singsing groups and various activities added more colour to the three-day celebration.
“I’m pleased to be with you on this very special occasion for the opening which is simply for Christians to come together as a family of God,” Sir John said.
He said that this would help the people grow spiritually and physically.

“I’m pleased with Mt Hagen Archdiocese under the leadership of Archbishop Douglas Young and his joint bishops for the wisdom to build this fine chapel,” Sir John said.
Archbishop Young said that this was a reality of the dream, vision and hard work of bishops before him, laymen and Christians that have sacrificed to see the completion of the chapel.
“This is the result of us working together to have this chapel completed and people coming to witness the opening of it,” Young said.
Kop said that HTTC was currently affiliated to the Divine Word University (DWU) and as such the new chapel would accommodate meaningful church and college activities in the years to come.
“This is a milestone achievement for the college and we hope to see many bigger developments taking place in future,” Kop said.
Miamel said that the college was built in the colonial era and they were looking at continuing with more new developments.
“With this new chapel the face of the college is changing and we are looking at continuing to make more changes.”
He said that with such infrastructures it would attract quality training for the teachers throughout the country.
Miamel said further that among the teachers colleges throughout the country, HTTC was the first to take on board the Bachelor of Education in Primary Teaching in 2014.
“Apart from that we also have students from Solomon Island doing their studies here.
“We will continue to develop and change the image of this college because infrastructure development is the key that will promote quality learning.”
He said that they were looking at working towards creating the best learning environment for the lecturers and students.
“Holy Trinity Teachers College’s aim is to train quality teachers and that is by focusing on changes.”
HTTC campus also study centres for DWU and Pacific Leadership Training Institute on campus.
When an organisation enjoys new dimensions in physical and human resource development this largely is a reflection of its leadership.
And in the case of HTTC such leadership is provided by the governing council headed by Kop, Archbishop Young and Miamel.
The college has set an example for other institutions around the country to focus on infrastructure development to promote quality learning.

HISTORY

Land of inventions & discoveries (Part 3)

Paper money and tooth brushes

By BETTY GABRIEL WAKIA
WITH the invention of paper and printing on its account, China was almost destined to produce the first paper money.
The first paper money was invented in the ninth century and was made by the Tang Dynasty so that wealthy merchants would not have to carry large amounts of heavy copper coins.
It was called ‘flying money’ in those time because it was so light it could blow out of one’s hand. The paper money was made as an offshoot of the invention of block printing. The first paper money was a draft rather than real money. Original paper money like the today’s deposit receipts with the amount of total money available to the merchant written on them.
During that time, in order for merchant to exchange for cash in the provinces they deposit their cash in the capital and received a paper certificate called an exchange certificate. In this way paper money was quickly adopted by the government for forwarding tax payments. The first people to use a checking system were Muslim bankers in the 1200s, followed by Italian bankers in the 1400s.
The first Western money was issued in Sweden in 1661 followed by America in 1690, France in 1720, England in 1797, and Germany in 1806. The paper money is seen as the most common form of currency around the world today.

One of the greatest Chinese inventions of the medieval world was the mechanical clock. It was invented by the Buddhist monk, court astronomer, mathematician and engineer Yi Xing in 725 AD during the Tang Dynasty. Xing called it “Water Driven Spherical Birds Eye View Map of The Heavens” to keep track of celestial activity but unfortunately lasted only a few years before the water in the mechanism caused the metal to corrode. Without causing metal to corrode, later clocks used mercury with iron and bronze mechanisms. Hundreds of years later, an astronomer and mechanist of the Song Dynasty Su Song developed a more sophisticated clock called the Cosmic Empire in 1092. The first mechanical clock was developed in Europe two centuries earlier, but they did not have the escapement mechanism that is characteristic of mechanical clocks.
The compass was probably invented in between 221 BC and 206 BC during the Qin Dynasty by Chinese fortune-tellers who used lodestones to construct their fortune telling boards. During the Han Dynasty, they used this knowledge to create a direction finder device which resembles a spoon and when it is placed on a plate on the ground, the handle points to the south. It was first used in determining direction for the layout of buildings.
During the Song Dynasty, they come up with magnetised needles replacing the loadstone and it became very important to map makers and for the navigational devices on ships. The first person recorded as using a compass for navigation was Zheng He from Yunnan Province, who made seven ocean voyages between 1405 and 1433.
Around 960AD, Arab traders sailing to China probably learned of the Chinese method of sailing by compass and returned to Europe with the invention in 1127. Before those times, the compass had opened up the oceans for exploration and led to the discovery of the New World by using the sun, moon and the pole star to give a constant bearing and made navigation safer.
The world’s first toothbrush is thought to have been created in China. For thousands of years ago, Chinese found different tools to keep their gums and teeth clean, their teeth white and their breath fresh. They came up with water and rough cloth to clean their teeth and also rubbed things like chalk and salt across their teeth to try to get rid of grime. For mouth freshener, they used chewing twigs culled from aromatic trees and also sharpened at one end to use as a toothpick.
However, in 1498, the Chinese invented the bristle toothbrush, similar to the type used today. The bristles toothbrush was invented during the Tang Dynasty and was most likely made from coarse hairs taken from the back of a hog’s neck and attached to handles made of bone or bamboo. The first people to use the instrument to clean the teeth were Northern Chinese monks. The use of tooth brushes then spread to Europe by travelers and was adopted in Europe during the 17th century.
The Chinese-invented toothbrush might not be as interesting as paper or gunpowder but it is something that everybody uses every single day.

• Betty Gabriel Wakia is a freelance writer and blogger.