Digicel PNG Foundation and IEA College of TAFE Partner to Launch Pilot Programme in Early Childhood Teacher Education
Early learning opportunities for young children are limited in Papua New Guinea, with only 63.4 percent of boys and 56.5 percent of girls attending primary school. When children are able to start school, they often need to walk substantial distances or catch multiple buses to attend classes.
To improve the early education system for Papua New Guineans, Digicel PNG Foundation has partnered with IEA College of TAFE. The organisations have launched a pilot programme worth over K200,000 to train 20 new childhood education teachers. The teachers will receive a combination of in-person and online training over a six-month period, resulting in a certificate from the college. Chris Jones, manager of the IEA School of TAFE, said the training programme will help the country reach its Vision 2050 goal of “empowering the people through education and life skills.”
Digicel Foundation has a long history of supporting Papua New Guinea’s educational system. To date, the foundation has supported over 300 community volunteers who run informal preschools in rural parts of the country. Digicel has provided some of these teachers with financial aid to build school halls and toilets and purchase educational materials.