Schools and their roles in nation-building

Associate Professor Kapa Darius Kelep-Malpo launched her publication entitled “School Cultures: Powerful Mediums to Transform Individuals, Schools and Societies”. PATRICK KAIKU gives a review about the book.

ON Tuesday March 5, 2019, Associate Professor Kapa Darius Kelep-Malpo launched her publication entitled School Cultures: Powerful Mediums to Transform Individuals, Schools and Societies.
Kelep-Malpo is retired, after 39 years of service in education.
She taught for a short time as a secondary school science teacher, while mostly serving as a secondary school administrator for 18 years as one of the few women in the role.
Since the early 1980s, Dr Kelep-Malpo undertook the Education Department Accelerated Promotion Scheme for localisation purposes.
Upon completion of her Masters studies as a Fulbright recipient at the University of Ohio, in the United States, she became an academic and a researcher and rose up the ranks as a senior academic in the field of educational administration and gender at the University of Goroka (UoG).
After taking up her PhD studies at Victoria University of Wellington, she also trained in courses on education administration in International Institute of Educational Planning in Paris, France, and the University of New England, Australia, in early childhood education.
Kelep-Malpo later became the executive dean of UoG’s school of education and continued to work closely with the PNG school system through joint research work with the Education Department and as a member of the National Education Board.
School Cultures: Powerful Mediums to Transform Individuals, Schools and Societies demonstrates the author’s first-hand involvement in education and the challenges facing schools in PNG today.
Kelep-Malpo is a product of the pre-Independence education system, and her experience in the teaching service and research in education provides her the authoritative position to write from.
School Cultures is most compelling because of the emphasis on formative years of the PNG child.
Schooling is a mundane rite of passage for young Papua New Guineans.
However, there are two important contributions in the book.
First, School Cultures is a condensation of a life-time of an indigenous career teacher.
The author encourages Papua New Guineans, especially in the teaching profession to write on subjects that may even seem so obvious.
Papua New Guineans are grounded and know their own circumstances better than anyone else.
Writing is the outlet that is available for information about the plight of our communities and society.
Secondly, the book goes beyond simply education.
Kelep-Malpo delves into the philosophical basis of understanding the critical roles of schools in a developing context like PNG.
Schools in this context are social institutions “where the architects of society are moulded”.
School Cultures is commendable in its presentation.
It is the simple and almost trivial experiences in PNG’s school systems that make schools the most celebrated social institutions in nation-building.
Most Papua New Guineans reading the book will be able to relate.
The book has specific themes for all stakeholders in the PNG school system – parents, students, school alumna, school administrations, teachers and policy officials of central agencies of the country.
This makes the book user-friendly.
Dame Carol Kidu’s introductory remarks in the preface of the book provides the all-encompassing theme of “school cultures”.
Schools are a “unifying force” and play a critical role “in nation-building if and when much attention is given to creating school cultures that focus on positive transformational change based on the national goals and directive principles as established in the preamble to our national Constitution”.
School Cultures: Powerful Mediums to Transform Individuals, Schools and Societies is arranged in a manner that allows the reader to first appreciate the contexts, and importance of the institution of schools in PNG’s development.
There are seventeen chapters in the book. Chapters 1 to 4 outline the overall functions of schools and their place in the development of modern human societies.
The author also introduces the reader to the notion of “school cultures” (Chapter 2). School cultures, as the term implies, are the “policies, practices, beliefs and values that bind the human element”.
A thriving school culture is where order and discipline is paramount. Schools that develop transformational effects on societies are those whose performances are guided by achievable vision and mission statements.
Chapters 5 to 12 of the book takes the reader into the classroom setting.
In Chapter 8, for instance, the author uses the example of two exemplary schools in the country to illustrate the dramatic effect school visions and mission statements have on the performance of the school.
The two schools profiled in this chapter include the Jubilee Catholic Secondary School in the National Capital District and the West Goroka Primary.
One being a mission-run school, and the other a public school.
Both schools are living examples of the profound effect their administrators have and their foresight in creating the kind of learning environment for young Papua New Guineans.
In Chapter 7, Dr Kelep-Malpo suggests the experiential value of field trips in early learning. The story of elementary school teachers in the New Ireland organising a field trip for their students to the National Airport Corporation and Air Niugini is an example.
Such modes of learning provides children earlier on in life the reference point on setting goals about the future.
One of the fascinating themes in Chapter 9 is the importance of using school songs as a medium in instilling pride in the school.
Kelep-Malpo illustrates the positive effects of having school songs.
School songs instil the core values and mission of educational institutions.
Young people also know their identity and are inspired by school identities when symbols such as songs are sung with pride.
In School Cultures, there are multi-faceted aspects of the school system that instils pride. From
the school uniforms, to school anthems or songs, to symbols that unite the schools to excel in its stature.
All these different dynamics make up the totality of school culture.
Chapters 13 to 16 of the book provide case studies success stories of schools with positive effects on the community.
This are the more engaging sections of School Cultures. These chapters are empowering and uplifting.
Kelep-Malpo uses different examples of schools in the country to illustrate the consistency in adhering to values, principles and mission statements.
For instance, the single-sex schools in New Ireland and East New Britain were built around foundational figures – usually expatriate administrators who facilitated the orderliness and discipline in those schools.
Finally, chapter 17 of School Cultures provides some practical policy suggestions.
The author concludes in this chapter by making reference to the social nature of schools. Communities, and especially homes are connected to the schools in more ways than one.
An innovative policy area, where schools can institute is the creation of school alumni chapters.
Past pupils are potential role models for younger generations of school children.
The experiences of past pupils can inspire current students in a school to excel in areas of their education.
Kelep-Malpo’s book is a worthwhile read.
The launching of this book coincides with the Education Department’s development of the citizenship and Christian values education as a compulsory subjects in PNG schools.
School Cultures: Powerful Mediums to Transform Individuals, Schools and Societies pinpoints specific areas in PNG’s school system that such subjects can complement in moulding the minds of young Papua New Guineans.
At a time when we are grappling with the process of change in our country, schools remain the unique institutions that are strategically critical in developing productive and competitive aspects of our national identity to deal with challenges in our time.

• Patrick Kaiku is a lecturer in the Political Science Strand at the University of Papua New Guinea