Stem education gets into gear

EDUCATION

By ILEEN NAKRA
FOR Papua New Guinea to be equipped with local expertise in the field of science and technology and remain competitive with the rest of the world, the Government has launched the National School of Excellence (NSOE) Policy 2020.
The policy is to teach Stem subjects in all six NSOE (Port Moresby, Sogeri, Aiyura, Wawin, Kerevat and Passam) in the country with the implementation of the Stem syllabus in 2021 with the first Grade 11 batch.

What is Stem?
Stem refers to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
First assistance secretary, general education services division, Benny Rayappan said: “Stem is more of innovation, creativity and research, including problem and solution based learning. It is a concept contextualising local knowledge and skills to current global trend,” he said.
“It emphasis and encourages young scientists to be creative, focused on digital technologies and also inspires them to be smart and become entrepreneurs. Stem is a disruptive intervention in our education system to ensure our best students are internationally competent.”
Since its implementation, the number of Stem students’ enrollments increase each year.
In 2021, the total number of pioneer Grade 11 Stem students attending all six schools of excellence was 203, who had graduated in 2022 as the first batch of Grade 12 Stem students. This year 307 Grade 12 Stem students graduated and 436 will graduate next year as the third batch.

Purpose/aim
Rayappan said the purpose of introducing Stem was to achieve PNG’s Vision 2050 which was to create a smart, healthy and wealthy society by 2050.
He said the Government’s other aim was to sponsor the best brains to study in overseas universities and bring them back to PNG to develop in new scientific and digital technology dimension.
“It is an investment in capacity building for the future,” he said.

Eligibility
Rayappan said Grade 10 students must score all distinctions in the lower secondary school certificate examinations to be selected to NSOEs to take up Stem subjects.

Examination and certification
Grade 12 Stem students have two examinations; the Upper Secondary School Certificate (USSC) and Stem.
USSC examinable subjects include English, advanced mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics and Stem subjects are science which includes biology and physics, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“Stem students sit for both examinations for now. Eventually, they will sit for only Stem subjects with advanced English once all universities start accepting them,” Rayappan said.
He said they are also awarded two certificates; the USSC and the Diploma in Secondary Stem education.
The USSC certificate is for all Grade 12s nationwide, including Stem students while the Diploma in Secondary Stem education certificate is only for Stem students.
What’s the difference between Grade 12 Stem students and Grade 12 block science students?
According to Rayappan, both are science courses. Stem has additional subjects called technology and engineering.
“Teaching Stem is different as the learning content is advance and prepares students to study in overseas universities,” he said.
“The syllabus is based on the newly developed high contents in sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics, including research and solution-based learning.
“Internationally competent students with high a IQ only can handle this syllabus and must work very hard and prove themselves academically.”

Achievement
From the 203 pioneer Grade 12 Stem students who graduated last year, 43 of them have received the Stem scholarship award this year from the Government through the education department and are now studying at two United States universities.
Education Secretary Dr Uke Kombra said 13 of the students were currently studying at the Nicholls State University and 30 in South Dakota State University.
The various courses that the students are studying at the two universities include mechanical engineering, bio-chemistry and chemistry, computer and software engineering, petroleum energy engineering, molecular and cellular biology, electrical and electronic engineering, civil engineering, agriculture bio-systems engineering and construction engineering in data science.
He said they would study for four years.
South Dakota State University’s dean and professor Sanjeev Kumar, said during a visit to the country early last month: “Like any freshmen that entered the university, the PNG students were doing great, adjusting and coping with the cultural change and learning environment.”
The two universities agreed to enroll 30 to 40 more students next year.
Kombra said the programme was part of the Government’s aim to send students overseas for specific courses not available in the country.
Rayappan said Stem students were fortunate as they would be part of other scholarships offered by other overseas’ universities in China, Hungary, India and South Korea.
He said the department was also able to successfully implement the Stem curriculum and train some teachers to be fully equipped and more specialised.
“Fifty per cent of the teachers are well exposed to the Stem concept. Around 25 teachers are well-equipped to handle Stem subjects, however, we need to train additional teachers,” he said.
He added that it was a requirement for Stem teachers to have at least master’s degrees. A number of teachers through have been sponsored to upgrade their qualification through various programmes.
“We have some teachers specialised in Stem education who had graduated from Australia’s Queensland University of Technology (QUT) through the PNG Australia Stem Emphasis Award sponsorship programme,” he said.
“QUT has trained 75 Stem secondary teachers with post Graduate Diploma in Stem Education – awarded by PNG Australia Awards. That programme is now ceased.”
Rayappan said they had also conducted various in-service trainings for the teachers.
“The Institute of Business Studies University had done two trainings for technology and engineering teachers with computer skills, software, hardware and computer programmes, and robotics and artificial intelligence training,” he said.
He said mathematics professors from the University of Papua New Guinea, Pacific Adventist University, University of Technology and University of Goroka had also conducted a-two-week training for Stem mathematics teachers.

Scholarships
Rayappan said government scholarships were given to students who had obtained the best results in both Grade 12 USSC and Stem exams.
He said students who performed well in the Grade 12 USSC exam are given scholarships to study at various universities in the country.
“Grade 12 Stem students are given scholarships to study in overseas’ universities if they attain excellent results,” he said.

Career
Rayappan said there were hundreds of jobs available in science and technology which PNG has not tapped into.
“Jobs such as specialist doctors, engineers, pilots, forensic specialists, computer specialists, research officers, agri-bio system technicians, precision agriculturists, professors and many others. After completing their studies, they can either work in overseas or PNG.
“All scholarship students have signed an agreement to serve a minimum of four years in PNG.”

Funding
Education Minister Jimmy Uguro said the Government was committed to support the Stem education programme in the country.
All six NSOE had received K600,000 each in 2022 and K800,000 each this year.

School fees
The Government’s tuition fee-free policy applies to all schools. There is no difference in fees.

Challenges
Rayappan said as the number of students’ enrollment increased yearly, there was a need for Stem specialised teachers too.
“Teacher capacity is poor. There are separate teachers for different subjects. In some cases, the same teacher teaches both syllabi –Stem and USSC,” he said.
He said the teacher to student ratio was 1:30 which is not supposed to be. The required ratio should be 1:25 as it would be easy to do practicals and projects work.
“One teacher can easily manage 25 students. Stem education requires close attention and supervision as it requires intensive learning,” he said.
“Stem students are expected to do more research, projects, practical and get into actual engineering models during their learning.
“As per the NSOE policy, all teachers must have master’s degree. Currently only a few have master’s degrees, some have advanced post-graduate diplomas.
“We want them get master’s degrees through online learning. We are now enrolling them into different local universities to upgrade their qualifications,” he said.
He said however, there was still a long way to go to build full capacity of equipped Stem experts and infrastructures. He added that Stem needs more quality teachers to provide quality learning.

What of the future?
“To build Stem laboratories and other specialised buildings and to ensure more students are competently prepared for overseas’ studies.”
He said the Government was planning to send all 307 from this year’s batch to local and overseas’ universities next year.
“We are also working with universities to attach three of our Stem teachers from each NSOE to do master’s degrees in 2024,” he said.