School opens new dorm facility

Education

Nawaeb Lutheran High School in Morobe has opened new dormitory facility on Thursday that would accommodate over 150 female students.
The opening ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, Finance Minister Sam Basil, Communications Minister Koni Iguan, Nawaeb MP Kennedy Wenge, Australian High Commission counsellor Andrew Egan and Australian Consul-General Paul Murphy.
The school is nestled in the Boana mountain ranges, 30 minutes drive outside of Lae city, with a student population of 700, of which 200 are female. School principal Gobuta Kosieng said the new facilities would ease overcrowding for the school.
“Despite the accommodation issues faced by the school, we did not have the heart to turn back students, as they all got in on merit, many from remote parts of Morobe,” Kosieng said.
Funded through the Papua New Guinea-Australia Governance Partnership, the K450,000, new dorm includes 40 beds for female grade 10 students with cupboards, study tables and lamps.
Other projects in Nawaeb funded under the partnership included the Situm-Gobari cocoa nursery, family farms training, village empowerment project, financial literacy training, quality coffee processing project and various capacity building workshops.