Education for life in Papua New Guinea

Case Study

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Picture a boarding school where education includes the following: students construct or repair the buildings from laying concrete to hammering on walls and rooves; they construct their own beds and dormitory furniture; they take turns in teams over the years at cooking for 500 people three times a day; they raise some of the money to run the school by selling crops they have grown, livestock they have raised or furniture they have made; they are grateful for the opportunities provided by the school and therefore perform most of these tasks happily.

Lyn Fry found these experiences at Hagita High School in Milne Bay province in Papua New Guinea. Through Australian Volunteers International which aims to increase understandings across cultures and enable Australians to live with, learn from and share skills with people in developing communities, Lyn fulfilled a lifetime wish to teach overseas by becoming an Australian Volunteer Abroad (AVA). It was Lyn's most meaningful teaching experience in terms of work satisfaction and her students' quality of learning. Lyn performed some of her best teaching because of the students' enthusiasm to learn and the unique work situation.

Hagita High School is a Catholic 7-10 mission school, founded approximately 25 years ago. All students are boarders and come from all over Milne Bay from nearby villages and distant islands. Some islands are a week's journey by boat. Islander boarders only go home at Christmas because term breaks are not long enough to make the trip worthwhile.

Before leaving Australia, Lyn was well-briefed by the Australian Voluteers program and read much about Papua New Guinea. Her new school, however, offered a number of surprises. The first was starting school at 7.30 am! Lyn was also amazed at how older students helped organise discipline, religious ceremonies, entertainment and work around the school.

In terms of resources, the library had few and old books, but all were highly valued with no graffiti. Students could only borrow one book at a time because of the small collection. The school also had little audio-visual equipment. There was a television which students could watch in the morning or evening at cooking times when the generator was on. There were no computers. The rooms had fibro-cement walls with louvre windows to let breezes through. Some rooms had ceiling fans, but there were no air conditioners. Sometimes when the school pump was not working, students washed in a nearby river and carried back water in buckets.

Yet the limited resources did not prevent the students from enjoying very positive learning experiences. Part of the curriculum was traditional with compulsory English, Mathematics, Social Science and Science. Lyn taught Social Science. Students also studied Religion, Home Economics and Practical Skills which included Agriculture and Furniture-making. In Agriculture, Year 7s learned how to grow vegetables, mainly cabbages, carrots and capsicums; Year 8s learned how to raise pigs; Year 9s learned how to raise chickens; Year 10s could specialise in business management for one of the three. In Furniture-making, students made coffee and dining tables, chairs, stools and desks. Physical Education was popular, and students also learnt traditional Milne Bay singing and dancing.

But a special feature of all Papua New Guinea schools was work parade. Daily, students took responsibility for their school whilst saving it money. They performed cooking, cleaning, gardening and building tasks. This helped keep fees at approximately $A300 per year, still expensive for many families. In particular, cooking was a big task performed well but made a little easier through the same food being cooked daily. Breakfast was freshly-baked rolls, sometimes with butter or jam, and tea; lunch was rice and tinned fish; dinner was also rice and tinned fish perhaps with vegetables. Many students lost weight over holidays as their families could not provide as much food.

Religious feast days, cultural days and end of year class parties were major events. Lyn remembers her Year 10 class party for which students raised and saved money all year. Students bought sausages, rice and apples. Australian chips and lollies cost double the Australian prices and were special treats. A picnic rug of banana leaves was laid on the grass, and smaller leaves were plates. Sago palm leaves were cut from trees and torn into fibres attached to the stems. The whispy streamers hung down and were tied, with flowers, between trees around the eating area. Cut cane became barbecue tongs and leafy twigs became fly swats. Students danced and sang to the beat of the kundu drum, and the party became a mini-cultural festival of celebration as well as sadness that school days were over. As the school captains wrote in the school magazine, 'The days of guaranteed training are gone and you will have to sell yourselves to the world. But most of all it is a time of excitement at looking forward to the unknown future. The opportunities are there waiting for you to go out and grasp them.'

The Australian Voluteers program enables teachers like Lyn, as well as qualified workers in health, agriculture, environment and community development, to work in partnership with people in developing countriies. It receives funding from the Australian Government through AusAID.

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Click here to link to a comprehensive booklet on Australia's aid Projects in Papua New Guinea. Photos, maps and graphs feature throughout, giving a comprehensive description of Australia's aid program in PNG.