School gets permanent classroom

CHILDREN at the Malgtamb Elementary School near Mt Hagen can enjoy more classroom space – thanks to Digicel PNG Foundation.
It  funded a double elementary classroom building for K85,000 to help the community which was setting up its own school after children could not access the nearest educational institutions which were too far away.
The steel pre-fabricated double-classroom includes an office space, two toilets and a water tank.
It will provide much needed classroom space for 40 extra students at the school. There are currently 80 students enrolled at the school. They have three classes from EP-E2 with three teachers taking each class.
The Malgtamb community is made up of settlers from the Southern Highlands working as field laborers in Western Highlands.
They first moved there in 1972 and every generation before had toiled the coffee plantation.
As the nearest school was a fair distance away, parents took their children and taught them to work the plantations.
Then in 2009, members of the community planned to have a pre-school and began adult literacy classes in the Malgtamb United Church.
Pr Kenny Nane said: “When we settled here in 1972 to work on the coffee plantations it was as if we were all resigned to be field labourers.
 Marina van der Vlies, chief executive officer of Digicel Foundation said: “The Malgtamb community are single handedly carving their own destiny. We at Digicel Foundation provided the basic tools but they have put the cogs in place for the education wheel to be in motion.”