Twenty eight elementary teachers recently graduated from a three-day Teacher Training Course on phonics, reading and library skills at the Babuaf Elementary School in Kapunung Village, Morobe Province.
The teachers represent nine elementary schools in the remote Lower Watut region.
The program is supported by the Lower Watut Students Association and Morobe Mining Joint Ventures under the Education Program's Teacher Training Support, which is in line with the Department of Education (DoE) outcome.
Facilitated by NGO Rural Volunteers Library Services, the teachers were taught to decode books for cataloguing, and the importance of having a workable system of managing their libraries.
Trainer Joyce Orere said it was important for teachers to explain to students the importance of knowing the author, the illustrator and how to read and summarize a book.
She said they were also trained in phonics, the relationship between letters and sounds. This was equally important as without that understanding, reading cannot occur.
Teacher in Charge of Babuaf Elementary School, Titus Teko supported Ms Orere’s comments.
He said the skills acquired were invaluable and thanked the organisers for the training.
Huon Gulf District Education Manager, Moses Wanga, during the closing ceremony said in order to achieve the major outcomes of making elementary education available to all, existing systems must be strengthened and elementary teacher training was one aspect. He said this would continue to play a critical role in determining the quality of elementary education provided in the district.
“Our elementary students are entitled to a range of opportunities that will enable them to acquire the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes in order to show progression from one grade to the next. Therefore the training you have undergone in the last three days will equip you to fully implement the current English curriculum effectively,” Mr Wanga said.
Morobe Mining’s Education Coordinator Thelma Elizah said this was a successful program achieved through strong partnership with the government and key organisation to educated children in the region.
The books used during the training exercise were second lot of library books donated by students, teachers and parents of the Sheldon College in Australia and distributed to schools in the Huon Gulf and Bulolo districts by Morobe Mining Joint Ventures.
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