School gets K1m from Digicel Foundation

One million kina has been donated by Digicel Foundation for a pilot double-storey infrastructure project at Barakau Primary School in Central.
Foundation chief executive officer Beatrice Mahuru, when launching the project on Tuesday, said education was the single-biggest opportunity one could give a child.
It is for this reason that it remains high on the foundation’s focus.
“It takes up to 60 per cent of our budget,” Mahuru said.
“We have a full calendar of programmes to celebrate our beneficiaries, to bring their stories to the fore while continuing to deliver our health and education infrastructure projects across the country.
“We have moved from being a new player to a trusted partner.
“We thank our government and other donor partners for their collaboration and our communities for their trust.”
The project will consist of four classrooms fully kitted with 160 desks, blackboards, two teachers’ office spaces with desks, solar-powered lighting and a Wash component with toilets, showers and water tanks.
Barakau Primary is the first and only education infrastructure built from timber, out of 615 steel infrastructures that have been erected over the past 10 years across the country.
Former student Karan Adam, who now works for Digicel, said it was a big change from sitting under trees for lessons.
Established in October 2008, Digicel PNG Foundation has directly invested K85.98 million (US$27.03) in rural remote and socially-marginalised communities across all 22 provinces directly impacting over 785,000 people.