Save the children is working with the National Department of Education and Provincial Departments of Education to implement trainings in 37 clusters and 27 districts in 6 provinces under its Boosting Education Standards Together (BEST) PNG project.
Last week, the BEST PNG team held a week long training attended by 17 primary school teachers on Module 2 of the Standard Based Curriculum (SBC) Mathematics for Junior Primary (G3-G5) teachers for the Vanimo cluster in West Sepik Province.
The implementation of the BEST PNG project is led by the National Department of Education (NDoE) in partnership with the Provincial Divisions of Education and funded by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). Save the Children is the Grant Agent for the project.
Other trainings under the BEST PNG project that have been carried out include SBC Module 1 Maths and Science to improve learning outcomes for junior primary students in 6 low performing provinces through strengthening pre-service and in-service for teacher education, to expand access to teacher training for female teachers and improve access to textbooks.
The SBC Maths Module 2 expands on learnings from Module 1 and aims to equip teachers in using the SBC materials in supporting their planning , teaching, and assessment of students in Mathematics. It also focuses on a problem-solving approach for teachers to get students to understand and be interested to learn Mathematics as well as arms the teachers with the knowledge to return to their schools and share these learnings with their fellow teachers.
West Sepik Provincial Department of Education’s Superintendent for Operations & Standards, Basil Pere highlighted that these trainings were important for West Sepik because it is one of the 6 provinces that needs to upgrade in Mathematics. He said Maths is a subject that trains the mind of logically analyze and solve problems.
Pere said, “In West Sepik training like this is important because we’ve been identified as one of the provinces that need to upgrade in out mathematics capability, so our children have to be upgraded in their knowledge through this kind of programs, so they acquire a lot more in Mathematics”.
Pere further challenged teachers attending the training to take ownership and fully implement what they’ve learnt from the trainings back in their schools when they returned.
Provincial In-service Coordinator Sharon Buke with West Sepik PDOE further emphasized that trainings like this ensured that students learning was in line with the national curriculum’s overarching benchmark.
Buke said, “It is important to be trained in a way that when they sit for national examinations, the knowledge skills, and aptitudes they have gained from the teachers through this curriculum it has to be aligned to out national curriculum overarching benchmark.
Buke said, “It is important for students to trained in a way that when they sit for national examinations, the knowledge skills and aptitudes they have gained from the teachers through this curriculum it has to be aligned to our national to our national curriculum overarching benchmark. And the teachers must be competent”.
BEST PNG Project Manager Ambrose Ruyooka thanked the teachers for their participation in the training and shared a bit about components of the project and its objectives.
The training was led by BEST PNG Provincial Coordinator Pauline Area together with officers from the West Sepik PDOE which included Provincial In-service Coordinator Sharon Buke, Provincial Trainer Elizabeth Bingop, School Inspector Basic Education William Basehan and Master Trainers Marie Gumari and Salley.