Literacy through arts

 By MIRIAM MALAWA

THE theatre arts department of the University of Papua New Guinea is using drama to improve literacy levels for young people.

This is being done through the Theatre for Development project, funded by AusAid through Strongim Pipol, Strongim Nation. 

The project was initiated last year and uses drama to address social issues such as gender inequality. 

Coordinator and theatre arts lecturer Sophie Naime said the project was in two phases – involving youths from the communities in drama awareness and involving secondary school students in discussions through art forms. 

“We are at our final stages of phase one which we decided to involve youths from Morata in training them on how to use drama to advocate,” she said. 

 “We are also using this training to assess our fourth year students in community theatre.

 “Some of these youths have no formal education but they have very strong interpretation skills and by using these skills they can be able to write it on paper.

“When they put their ideas on paper it becomes a written form and that slowly develops their literacy level. 

“For seven years of teaching I have been using this hypothesis in the classroom and it has proven to work.”