Monthly English edition - Issue 24 April, 2016

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PNG Standard Officersmeet for National Ratings

By Frieda Sila Kana

THE PNG Education Departmentis for the first time holding a JointNational Ratings conference inPort Moresby, in which mostlysenior standard officers from allprovinces got together to reviewand endorse the assessment ofteachers for the year 2015.

The conference which startedwith an opening dinner on Sundayevening at Don Bosco TechnicalInstitute Hall had Senior StandardOfficers for the Primary and Sec-ondary Schools as well as theTVET or Technical, Vocational Ed-ucation from all the provinces at-tending.

In the previous years the Na-tional Rating of Teachers wasdone in three separate ratings atregional levels however in 2016the department had to do a JointNational Rating due to financialconstraints, according to theDeputy Secretary for TVET andUNESCO, Godfrey Yerua. Bringingeveryone to the National CapitalDistrict is a cost saving measure interms of transport and accommo-dation. The ratings which arebeing done this week howeverare for the assessment year in2015 which they were not able todo last year due to the reasonstated above.

The 2016 rating will be donelater in November this year, de-pending on availability of financialresources.

The launch of the meeting wasofficiated by the Minister for Edu-cation, Nick Kuman who was veryvocal on the quality of assessmentof the teachers as well as theavailability of Standard officers inthe district. He made particularmention of a house and vehiclewhich were made available to anofficer to be stationed at his Dis-trict administration but no officershave been on site since.

Mr. Kuman emphasized theneed for the Standard Officers tobe the “eyes and ears” of the Sec-retary for the Education and to be

that, they are expected to be onthe ground at all times, monitor-ing the movement and location ofteachers as well as students at-tendance and numbers of enrol-ment at the beginning of theschool and retention numbers inthe middle and end of the schoolyear.

Similar sentiments were ex-pressed by the Acting Secretaryfor Education, Dr. Uke Kombraprior to the Minister as well as theDeputy Secretary Dr. EliakimApelis.

Dr. Kombra said that the PNGEducation System depends on theLeadership that is provided as it isshown by the Minister for Educa-tion since his appointment in April2014.

“The government of PeterO’Neill has supported the educa-tion but now we are at a cross-road faced with demands likenever before, from all sectors fora quality education. So we areconstantly looking at revising andreforming systems to meet thedemands. Our goal is to give aquality education from elemen-tary to university level but onethat is relevant and appropriate,”said Dr. Kombra.

He reiterated what the ministeralways says about policies havingto make real differences like talkwith action. Thus teacher qualifi-cation counts. Dr. Kombra furthermentioned that one of the stepstaken now to act on the improve-ment of quality of education is toincrease the training years for theprimary school teachers from twoyears to 3 years in colleges to havea degree.

To conclude, Dr. Kombraproudly stated that the rating sys-tem that the education depart-ment is implementing is one thatwas used since 1970s and it stoodthe test time and is still the best.The Joint National Rating confer-ence is being held at the Hide-away Hotel in Port Moresbystarting on Sunday 24th and end-ing tomorrow.

Judy Waesa, Provincial TVET In-spector, Enga Province.

Dr. Uke Kombra, Acting Secretaryfor Education.

Dr. Eliakim Apelis, Acting Secre-tary.

Some of the Standard Officers in attendance during the launch of the conference.

P2 April, 2016

HIV/AIDS kills! Stick to one partner...

Youth say

Your say...

By Josiah Ururu Kana

JAZZ is a music genre that origi-nated from African-Americancommunities during the slave pe-riods 1800s-1900s, New Orleansin the United States.It emerged in the form of an in-

dependent traditional and popularmusic style accompanying manyoff-beat chord progresions. Jazzmusic spans a period of over 100years, accompanying a very widerange of music, and making it diffi-cult to define. Originating in 1866, the Atlantic

Slave Trade brought in nearly400,000 Africans to North Amer-ica. The slaves came largely fromWest Africa and greater CongoRiver Basin, and brought strongmusical traditions with them. The African tradition primarily

makes use of single line melody,call and response pattern, and therythms have a counter metricstructure and reflect the Africanspeech patterns. Another stronginfluence came from the harmonicstyle of hyms of the church whichblack slaves had learnt and incor-porated as Blues and Jazz. Since then, Jazz music grew

wider and larger, incorporatingcomplex chord combinations, dis-tinctive voice patterns and improv-isation.Jazz is a very soulful music be-

cause it was originally practicedand formulated during the work-ing hours and religeuos times ofthe Black-American slave trade.

Durring those times, the blackswould sing and clap, snap fingersor beat chests while working incotton fields as a means to enter-tain themsleves or express theirthoughts, feelings, and struggles.Because of its distinct history as asoulfull genre, Jazz music grewwider and larger, and is now beingstudied and played in over 50 dif-ferent countries and in almost allcontinents.Here in Papua New Guinea, the

Jazz Appreciation month was heldat the American Corner located inthe National Library in PortMoresby, this week. Studentsfrom the School of Humanities andSocial Science of the University ofPapua New Guinea, in partnershipwith the American Corner, hostedthe morning jazz session wherethe music genre was introduced inlecture and skills to technicle andsecondary school music studentsand other interested citizens.The American Corner recognised

Jazz because of its historical andtraditional connection, and in part-nership with UPNG music stu-dents, accompanied by otherprominent musicians, they dedi-cated the whole morning to jazzmusic, explainning its importance,characteristics and history.Solomon Apisis, a 3rd year stu-

dent majoring in guitar, explainedand described the aspects of Jazzmusic and his other fellow bandmember Derik, majoring in drumsexplained and demonstrated fur-ther where his friend had left.

After the presentation, thegroup inspired Papua NewGuineans with the complex, ryth-mic and fascinating music of Jazz,

playing each style as they go.The group later stressed that

PNG can also incorporate tradi-tional music into jazz making an-

other new style in jazz but it wouldonly happen if our young musi-cians are musically literate, espe-cially in theory.

Apreciating Creativity - Jazz Music

Jazz player poster.

UPNG Arts Students performing Jazz using Contemporary indigenous Musical Instruments during the Jazz aware-ness seminar at American Corner this week. Photo: Josiah Ururu Kana

What type of priorities do you as an individual want to beincluded in the government of the post 2017 election?

Name: Joe Kenasi Age: 30Province: NorthernProvinceOccupation/school:Fulltime churchworker and TraineePastorOpinion: Mosttimes ourgovernment givemany of its priorities to other physicalthings to rehabilitate people but theyshould give more emphasis on churchbased programs because it is the onlyguaranteed institution that rehabilitatesa person from the inside out to be goodand godly citizen. And also, preparationfor eternity is better than preparationsin the physical life…

Name: ChrisKolomangoAge: 20Province:SouthernHighlandsOccupation/school: student of Gordon’ssecondary schoolOpinion: The government must createmore employment and job opportunitiesas crime rate is increasing due tocriminals and potential criminals havingnothing to do.

Arthur GiniAge: 20Province:HelaOccupation/school: Graduated withDiploma in Business Management -Port Moresby Business CollageOpinion: We need more higher learninginstitutions and universities to cater forthe increasing population of potentialuniversity student candidates who after12th grade graduation, find it verydifficult in gaining space in universitiesdue to lack of facilities and resources.

Name: Johnny KopiAge: 18Province: Gulf,Central and MilneBaySchool/occupation:Student of DonBosco Technical Institute Opinion: Our government must increaseemphasis on private and government ownedtechnical institutes. The country isdeveloping and it needs certain technicaljobs which often require expatriates withspecific skills, but if the government canincrease attention in technical institutes,then they wouldn’t have to waste money onlooking after special skilled expatriates.

April, 2016 P3

HIV/AIDS kills! Stick to one partner...

Feature

Aiambak to Lake Murrayroad opened A NEW 45 kilometre high-way linking Aiambak Portwith Lake Murray in theMiddle Fly district ofWestern Province was of-ficially opened this monthby the Ok Tedi MiningLimited (OTML) ManagingDirector & Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Peter Graham,and the Middle Fly MP,Roy Biyama.This highway rehabilita-

tion project cost a total ofK59.9 million and is one ofmany infrastructure proj-ects funded by the Com-munity Mine ContinuationAgreement (CMCA) por-tion of the WesternProvince Peoples DividendTrust Fund (WPPDTF), anddelivered by the Ok TediDevelopment Foundation(OTDF).The construction con-

tract was awarded to Star-west Constructions Limitedwith technical engineeringsupport from KramerAusenco. Starwest began works in

November 2013 and com-pleted this lower portionof the Barramundi High-way two (2) years later inNovember 2015.Mr Graham said the

project was a significant in-vestment and a first classstretch of the highway so itis very important to lookafter it.“If we don’t maintain the

road, keep the drainageright, in no time the roadwill start to suffer and we’lllose much of the value ofthe road. So again, we lookat community support tolook after the road.“The road itself is a

means to an end, it’s notan end in itself. What is im-portant is that the commu-nity can now takeadvantage of what theroad offers. “It’s a life line, it gets you

to improved access tohealth, education, mar-

kets, it’s a wonderful op-portunity but that oppor-tunity now rests in yourhands,” Mr Graham toldAiambak and Lake Murraypeople at the opening.Meanwhile, Middle Fly

MP Roy Biyama, who wasthe keynote speaker at theopening ceremony, haspledged his support toworking closely with OTDFCEO Ian Middleton and theFoundation in deliveringmore projects for the Mid-dle Fly people.“Mr Middleton, I never

knew you, but looking atsuch things you are doing,creating job opportunitiesfor my people, I would liketo support you all the waywith whatever OTDFdoes,” Mr Biyama said.Mr Biyama was proud to

be able to open the high-way on behalf of his peo-ple and also pledged togive them a canter truck tosupport their rubber andfood security needs.Mr Middleton acknowl-

edged and welcomed MrBiyama’s support towardOTDF.He said he was proud to

see such developmentsunfolding in WesternProvince, and assuredMista Biyama of OTDF’scontinued support for suchimpact projects that wouldtransform the lives of peo-ple in that part of thecountry. He said in Tok Pisin:

“Memba mi ekseptim tok-tok bilong yu, mi ekseptimamamas bilong yu, olsemyu sanap long hia na yu tokyu amamas long dispela di-velopmen. Mi amamaslong dispela divelopmen. a sapos trutru yu laik

wok wantaim mipla, miplastap. Kam na yumi wokimmoa development lo pipolblo Middle Fly.”The partnership ex-

pressed between the vari-ous parties now lays the

foundations to furthersupporting the communi-ties of the Middle Fly; thepeople themselves musttake advantage of thishighway. The Lake Murray Local

Level Government Presi-dent, Sep Galeva, alongwith many communityleaders, both men andwomen expressed theirgratitude and asked OTDFto further assist them withrubber, eaglewood, riceand vegetable crops forsale to markets that arenow more accessible tothem.“This road will open up a

lot of markets for our peo-ple. It’s not just rubber; itmay open other things likeeaglewood. At the moment we are

talking about rubber be-cause it’s very importantfor the Lake Murray com-munity and that is why wehave to thank CMCA lead-ers for at least putting upthis money to make it pos-sible to build up this road,”Mr Galeva said.He said rubber was the

only cash crop for the peo-ple in Western Provinceand that rubber was veryimportant for his MiddleFly people.“I would like to encour-

age OTDF by giving you fullsupport in whatever youwant to do to bring cashflow into our people’spocket. I’m with you all theway. “Whatever it takes to

build infrastructure for ourpeople, I’m with you.Whether I leave politicsand be an ordinary man, Iam with you, because I un-derstand the governmentdoesn’t come in quickly. Ifthere is a developmentpartner here who can sup-port the community, weneed to partner with themto deliver what our peopleneed,” Mr Galeva said.

Peter Graham and Roy Biyama flanked by Lake Murray dancers.

OTDF Chief Operating Officer Lalatue Avosa and Middle Fly MP Roy Biyama escorted by LakeMurray dancers.

Roy Biyama and Peter Graham.

The Lake Murray end of the 45km stretch of road.

P4 April, 2016 Feature

Decision on Manus detention centre hailedTHE decision this week by theSupreme Court of PNG to stop theoperations of the Manus asylumseekers detention centre as it isdeemed illegal and unconstitu-tional has been hailed by theCatholic Professional Society(CPS) of PNG.In a media statement, President

of the CPS, Paul Harricknen says“the Supreme Court Decision forthe Asylum Seekers is a Victoryand Vindication for Justice and Su-premacy of our Constitution“Here is a great victory and vin-

dication for Justice and the su-premacy of our Constitution. Thesuccessive PNG governments havesince 2002 been either naively ordeliberately been underminingour Constitution and the laws ofPNG acceding to Australian Gov-ernment’s cheque book diplo-macy.“The Supreme Court’s unani-

mous decision yesterday (26/4/16)is a victory for the asylum seekersand the Constitution of PNG,” MrHarricknen says.He says that the Catholic Church

has always maintained that theManus deal since 2002 under JohnHoward and his “Pacific Solution”policy to the present times with

the successive Australian PMs(Howard, Rudd, Abbot, Turbull)

has been inhumane and unconsti-tutional. The current Australian

Government under Malcolm Tur-bull is still defiant against the asy-

lum seekers under their borderprotection policy.“What has been concerning and

relieving now is that the O’NeillGovernment had defiantly goneagainst all calls by respectable PNGcitizens and groups to amend Sec-tion 42 of the Constitution to allowfor Australian interests. No sover-eign nation in the world wouldallow its Constitution to beamended to accommodate theparochial interest of a foreigncountry. It is great news for PNGnow that the Supreme Court hasmoved to declare the amendmentunconstitutional and invalid to-gether with the two countries’MOA.“The Government must swallow

it pride and learn its lessons fromthis decision. The Governmentshould proceed forthwith to closedown the centre and ensure thatthose persons accused of rape andmurder are brought to justice aswell.“We applaud the Supreme

Court decision, and everyone in-volved in this victory, especiallyMr. Belden Nama and his lawyer,Mr LoaniHenao, and their legalteam. Congratulations!”, says MrHarricknen.

Manus asylum seekers detention centre. Photo: Internet

Bilum Books delivers Standard Based Education BooksBy Frieda Sila Kana

“BILUM Books”, an Australianbased publishing company with avision and mission to help raise thestandard of educational materialsmeant for the Papua NewGuineans school levels of Primaryand Secondary under the newStandard-Based Education pro-gram have now launched theirrange of text books for studentsand teachers.The official launch took place in

a remote school in Kiunga, West-ern Province, Cross-CountrySchool of Excellence on the 21stand 22nd April, 2016. According tothe publishers, Sarah White andIrene Sawczak , Bilum Booksplanned to launch their books in arural community to emphasise theimportance of bringing training tothe teachers in rural areas whereitis lacking so much. The launching at the Cross-

Country School of Excellence in Ki-unga, was held during a two daytraining which was convened forteachers on how to use the booksin line with the new Standard-

Based Curriculum for Ele-mentary Teachers. Thepublishers told WantokNewspaper that teachersfrom about 15 to 20schools near and far inthe Kiunga area eitherwalked or jumped onPMV trucks to make it tothe training venue. “The teachers and stu-

dents’ welcome was out-standing,” said SarahWhite.“Teachers really want

training for the StandardBased Education from theEducation Department sothis training was a chancethey cannot miss.” shesaid further.The Bilum Books are

partnering with the localprinting and publishinghouse, Christian BooksMelanesia to supply thebooks to the schools.They have distributed arange of 25 text books toa number of bookshopsincluding the CBM book-

shops throughout the nation, aswell as the well know Theodist Sta-tionary bookshop and others inPort Moresby city. “The range of books for students

learning and teachers guide covergrades from preparatory to grade8. The books are designed to con-textualize the vocabulary, gram-mar and instructions to localPapua New Guinean understand-ing and illustrations are also con-textualized and done by PapuaNew Guineans,” says Miss White. The Principal Director of the

Cross-Country School of Excel-lence, Elias Wranga said he sees agreater need for education inWestern Province and has openeddoors for such partnership to im-prove the education standards. “I have no doubt that these

books and workshops would pro-vide the need of the hour for allour schools in Western Province interms of resource and training,”said Mr. Wranga. “It is fitting forthese new books to be launched ina new school, with a new genera-tion, to set a new standard,” headded.

Bilum Books - our books! Chil-dren in Kiunga with the newbooks that support the newStandards-Based English Cur-riculum.

Two of the three Publishers ofBilum Books, L-R Irene Sawczakand Sarah White.