Project News

Project car across the submerged road

The Independent State of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has a diverse landscape with a high mountain range that runs through the county's mainland as well as many islands, forests, lakes and swamps that make up some of the most rugged terrains in the world. Due to this problem, educational facilities, quantity and quality of teachers are not sufficient in these areas. The EQUITV project aims to improve teaching and learning quality through the EQUITV program in primary school nationwide.

It might be hard for us Japanese to imagine ‘remote area'. I try to tell you ‘What is remote area?' in this News Letter edition, through a report of monitoring and delivery of TV and materials in Rigo District in Central Province.

Central Province is next to the National Capital District. Therefore, the distance is not far from a big city, however, there are many rivers and mountains and many schools are located in remote areas. The project staff visited Rigo District to deliver TV equipment and materials. The access is not easy; we crossed a submerged road and used a boat to reach inland river schools upstream.

Project staffs transfer equipment and materials from project car to boats to deliver to schools upstream

Project staffs carry TV screen and materials from boats to a school on foot

In this kind of remote area, the majority of schools do not have access to electricity. So they utilize generators or solar panel for TV lessons.

Solar panels are on the rooftop of a school building

The number of teachers and materials for classes in the remote area is limited. Therefore, it is important to support and expand students’ learning latitude through TV classes.

Students in a school which received TV and materials for TV lessons

Monitoring; A provincial standard officer and a project staff conduct monitoring