How Jacob managed to move on after failing his Grade 6 exam

By LORRAINE JIMAL
SITTING in his Finance Department office in Port Moresby, first assistant secretary financial controls division Jacob Mark reminisced about the day he was mocked after failing his Grade Six examination in school.
“The jokes and teasing game (from school mates) went from bad to worse. It reached a point where I gave up and went to another high school.”
Jacob, 44, is from Kiwa in Wapenamanda, Enga. He is married to Prettier from East Sepik. They have a son Talis who is now in Grade Nine.
He attended Kiwa Primary School in Enga in 1983 when he was five. He asked his parents to allow him to live with his teacher so that he could attend classes easily. His mother and father fully supported his keen interest in education.
Jacob was very bright, attentive and always punctual in school, scoring good marks in all subjects.
So it surprised everyone, especially him, when he failed the Grade Six examination.

“ The jokes and teasing game (from school mates) went from bad to worse. It reached a point where I gave up and went to another high school.”

“I was in the line (at the end-of-year prize-giving ceremony) expecting my name to be called to receive a prize. I waited and waited. Other names were called but not mine.”
He went home crying and told his mother he had failed the Grade Six examination. They cried together. But his father was bitterly disappointed with Jacob and scolded him for letting them down.
Jacob left home to live with his mother’s relatives. His uncle enrolled him in a high school in the area where he met his classmates from primary school who continued to make fun of him.
They told him that he was wasting his parents’ money and that he would not go far in his education journey.
Jacob promised himself that he will prove them all wrong. He concentrated on his school work and later attended Kandep High School.
Life was tough financially so he picked coffee for his school expenses. K2 would last him for two weeks. His ever supportive mother sold pigs and cocoa for his school fees.
Then things started to look better for Jacob. At the end-of-year prize-giving ceremony, he received the Social Science dux award.
His uncle advised him to continue his education at the Passam National High School in Wewak, East Sepik. After high school, he attended the University of PNG and graduated with a Diploma in Accounting, and later a degree in that discipline.
At UPNG, he collected tins and bottles to sell, and helped his relatives sell clothes on the streets of Port Moresby. The K10 or K20 he earned helped him pay for his personal needs.
After graduating from UPNG in 2001, he worked for Customs in Port Moresby. In 2004, he was employed by the Kokopo Business College as an Accounting lecturer. He was also appointed head of the accounting department.
In 2009, he acquired a post-graduate Diploma in Education at the Divine Word University. He also completed a Master in Business Administration programme at UPNG.
Then he went to Australia to study the country’s financial affairs management.
He has been with the Finance department for 11 years as an accountant and a business analyst.
“We identify and address challenges, and manage employees. We need to be tough to manage public service funds. We manage cash and must be alert and thorough.”
Jacob’s long-term plan is to start a business. He believes that the “sky is the limit” as he pursues his goals in life.
The man from Kiwa has come in leaps and bounds since that Grade Six hiccup in school.
He once looked up to a “countryman who was an accountant” as his role model.
“I told myself that I will be like him, but to go one step further than him. That is what I have done.”