Mobile school giving children chance to learn the basics

LIFE PNG Care is running a mobile education programmes to help orphans and school-aged children in disadvantaged communities around Port Moresby.
National director Collin Pake said there were 185 students attending classes with six teachers and four support staff.
A bus transports the children to a location such as settlement in the city where classes are held.
“As the name suggests, the school moves around in communities where we have disadvantage group of children, especially, who are not at school,” he said.
“This programme is basically to target those children who want to go to school but because of various reasons are not allowed to. We are giving them the opportunity to learn the basics – literacy and numeracy.
“It’s called introductory basic literacy and numeracy. Once our teachers teach them how to read and write, we then integrate them back into the normal system.”
The programme began last year with children from Life PNG Care travelling to Baruni, Gerehu Stage Seven or Erima settlement where they have their lessons with the children from those communities. “These are the locations at Moresby North East and Moresby North West we are piloting,” Pake said.
He said what was taught to students was an integration of standard-based education and accelerated Christian education curricula.
“Our start-off age is five and cut-off is 12 or 13,” Pake said.