The first two new elementary classrooms were officially launched on Tuesday, March 23^rd, at Paramana village in Abau District, Central Province. It was a very colorful launch event with hundreds of excited school children dressed in traditional Aroma Coast attire. The community from Paramana and surrounding villages were also present to witness the special occasion.

The existing four semi-permanent classrooms at Paramana Elementary school were built by the community members but did not provide sufficient room to accommodate for the increasing number of children attending the elementary school. The enrollment increased from close to 200 last year to more than 250 children enrolled this school year. The classes have become overcrowded and teachers were forced to have their classes outside under the trees. Now, with the welcome addition of the two new classrooms and school resources, the needs of 50 elementary grade children will be catered for.  Each of the classrooms comes with a library including 150 books each, kindly donated by NGO Hope Worldwide, as well as a school blackboard and slates. All the children were also given a Digicel Foundation school string bag including exercise books and a pencil case with school stationary.

The second launch of two kit structure classrooms took place at Karkum elementary school outside of Madang town on Friday, March 26^th. This elementary school consists of two bush material classrooms, built by the community, and is growing so rapidly that there is not enough classroom space to accommodate for all the more than 100 elementary aged children in Karkum village and the ten surrounding villages. The school also teaches Grade 8 to 10 students that have dropped out of school to ensure that they get back in to the formal education stream.

The third launch took place on Monday 29^th March, in Morobe Province, at Banisu elementary school just outside Wau town. This elementary school was established by the local SDA church and consists of 3 semi permanent classrooms. With an enrollment of 132 children this year new classrooms were desperately needed. The launch was a big event with close to 700 people from Wau and the neighbouring villages witnessing this special occasion. The School Board Chairman, Ps. Enosh Enopa, said, “We are very happy with our two new classrooms and the extra school resources. These new classrooms are a huge step forward for us. The children are so excited they cannot wait to attend classes in these new facilities. This is a great boost for the moral of our teachers and young students and a great start to our school year”

The final launch of the month took place today at Viriolo Elementary School, in Abau District, Central Province. In January 2009 a high tide completely destroyed the 4 semi permanent elementary classrooms in the village. The community has started rebuilding the elementary school with some of the left over materials but for the meantime the classes are being held under the church building. Marina van der Vlies, CEO of the Digicel Foundation, who was witnessing the launch said: “To be in a position to help elementary schools in the region in this way is a very rewarding experience. These are all home grown, community based schools that get very little support from other sources than their own. People here don’t have much and always give what they can. To be able to give a child a better quality basic education is something very precious that will last for a lifetime”.

The Digicel Foundation is working closely with Government, non-government organizations, churches and the private sector to get the Foundation’s projects in the area of Basic Education infrastructure off the ground. The launches of these eight elementary classrooms are part of the rollout of a total of 18 elementary school classrooms across the country for nine selected elementary schools nationwide. The Foundation recently launched two double classroom projects for two primary schools and is currently engaged in four other primary school building projects across the country. By improving infrastructure in the area of basic education Digicel Foundation strives to empower communities which in turn will endow them with a positive outlook for their future.