- School children across three provinces to benefit from new classrooms

DIGICEL FOUNDATION PROVIDES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WITH ASSISTANCE

February 26th 2010 - School children across three provinces to benefit from new classrooms

Friday February 26, 2010 – Port Moresby: Digicel PNG Foundation this week unveiled six new classrooms at three elementary schools across three provinces in Papua New Guinea.

The first two new elementary classrooms were unveiled on Wednesday at Kindeng Foursquare lower primary school, close to Hagen town. The existing classrooms were built from bush materials by the Kindeng community members. However, due to the increasing number of children enrolling, the classrooms had become overcrowded and the church was being used for the elementary school children. Now, with the addition of the new classrooms, the needs of 50 elementary grade children will be catered for. Each of the classrooms also come with a library including 150 books each, kindly donated by NGO Hope Worldwide, as well as a school blackboard and slates.

The second launch took place at Talair elementary school in Kamkumu settlement, one of the fastest growing settlements in Lae city. With the rapid growth in numbers of children attending schools, more classroom space is desperately needed in this area and the two new classrooms will accommodate at least 50 of the 100 children attending the school.

The third launch, was in the Eastern Highlands in the rural village of Kururumba. The bush material classrooms were quickly deteriorating and in desperate need of replacement and the Digicel Foundation kit structure classrooms were greatly needed. Kururumba elementary school was set up through the strong perseverance of one disabled community member and now School Head Teacher, Mr. Gorogoro Hendare. Mr Gorogoro built the first bush material structure, consisting of 3 classrooms, with his own hands 4 years ago bringing the first elementary school for local children into this area. Since then the school has grown with more than 200 children attending and the community has assisted in building new bush material classrooms. The School Board Chairman who was present at the unveiling said, “This is a welcome change of environment for these young children who were used to having classes in the dark on a damp dirt floor. 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.”

Marena Sansan, Board member of the Foundation and the Digicel Regional Manager for the Highlands, said: “To be in a position to help elementary schools in the region in this way is a wonderful 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 next launch is planned for 3^rd of March at Kotuni Elementary School near Mt Otto outside of Goroka town. Members from the four different clans will be attending the long anticipated opening of the two new classrooms and said that they were very happy to see this much needed new form of grass roots support in their village.

The 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 six elementary classrooms are part of the roll out of a total of 18 elementary school classrooms across the country for nine selected elementary schools nationwide. The Foundation recently launched a double classroom project at Sivitatana primary school in Central Province and is currently engaged in five other primary school building projects across the country. By improving infrastructure in the area of basic Digicel Foundation strives to empower communities which in turn will endow them with a positive outlook for their future.