It was smiles all around when the keys to a new teacher’s house was handed to the Komo Catholic Primary School in Hela Province over the weekend.
The teacher’s house was built for the school by ExxonMobil PNG; operator of the PNG LNG Project, who has been working in conjunction with communities in PNG LNG project areas to help improve education and health infrastructure including the restoration of facilities damaged in the 2018 earthquake.
Despite sustaining damage in the earthquake Komo Primary School, run by the Catholic Church, has remained open thanks to the dedication of teachers and church officials.
When handing the teacher house over, ExxonMobil PNG Field Operations Manager Kim Hahn commended the church and teachers for staying on through hardship to ensure students continued their education.
“ExxonMobil PNG is very happy to support the Komo Catholic Primary School and its teachers. Education is a fundamental building block for strong and resilient communities. Teachers are instrumental in inspiring the next generation to be community leaders, tradesmen and tradeswomen, nurses and engineers. When children have a good education it builds a bright future for everyone.” Ms Hahn said.
Head teacher Michael Basse said teacher’s housing was very important in the community “without properly built housing, students would have no teacher in their school,” he said.
School Board Chairman Steven Telape said, “We have not received any assistance for a long time and ExxonMobil PNG has come to help us with building this staff house for the teacher. The Komo Community and I are really happy with this project.”
ExxonMobil PNG contracts local tradesmen to build the infrastructure improvements, ensuring the projects also generate income for local families.
Other infrastructure projects underway by PNG LNG include teacher housing at Para Primary School and the restoration of health services at Mananda, Para and Juni.
Source: ExxonMobil PNG Media Release
