Writing cocoa curriculum

 TEACHERS from five schools in East New Britain are currently attending an in-service programme to pilot a cocoa curriculum for schools in the province.

That is a new intervention as currently most schools used learning materials from other countries and are now keen on developing home-grown learning material.

The schools are Kamanakam Primary School, George Brown High School, Malabunga Secondary School, Vunamami Farmers Training Centre and Kabaira Vocational Girls School.

The curriculum has been developed by the PNG Cocoa and Coconut Institute (PNGCCI), through the leadership of a consultant and partnerships with the Department of Education, ENB provincial government through the education division and the Cocoa Board of PNG.

The first in-service last week was attended by two teachers each from the five schools.

PNGCCI information management and communication programme director Alfred Nongkas said the idea to develop a cocoa curriculum was conceived in 2011 and came under PNGCCI’s learning and capacity building that dealt with building human capacity.

“However the difference is this product will be targeting young school aged children as opposed to adults who have always been CCI’s primary focus,” Nogkas said.

“The majority of children and youths going through the national education system would ultimately end up with their parents in the villages and introducing cocoa technologies and their delivery mechanisms through avenues like this curriculum will contribute immensely towards their preparation for a life.”

He encouraged teachers to learn as much as they could from the in-service training and impart valuable knowledge to their students.