Buk Bilong Pikini (BbP) celebrated its 15 years of delivering Early Childhood Education (ECE) services all across the country.
Executive Officer Leanne Resson said, it has been a humbling and rewarding experience to be part of this team.
She added that the program has impacted thousands of children who are now performing well above standard at school and are well equipped with solid foundations allowing them to excel further at school.
Buk Bilong Pikinini has a total of 20 Library Learning Centers in the country and 11 in Port Moresby with the mission to help increase literacy rates and improve education outcomes for children in PNG.
“The Early Childhood Education program is delivered free of charge to 5 year old children with two sessions every weekdays starting with the morning session from 8am-10am and the afternoon session from 10:30am -2:30pm.”
Ms Resson said that the content and teaching lessons are the same throughout the day and added that, this is to avoid overcrowding and basically help the kids have one-one sessions with the teacher.
Kids attending the Tatana Buk Bilong Pikinini Library Learning Center have improved a lot with their pronunciation of words and speaking in English through the Jolly-Phonics classes.
According to BbP Assistant Librarian/ Teacher Mr Goada Vagi, even though the school is near the city, majority of the kids can only speak a few English words.
He said, “With the Jolly-Phonics program set-up, it has helped a lot with to teach the Motuan children on how to pronounce and say the words properly, even if it’s only a sentence.”
In the past 2-years, BbP Tatana students have passed Elementary and advanced to the Primary level of education because of how they were taught during their Early Learning program set by BbP.
Mr Vagi said they have been confronted by the Elementary & Primary Head teacher that students coming out of BbP are more advanced than the ones starting straight into Elementary & Primary school.
He added that after the 1st or 2nd term, they move the ones who are more advanced to Prep or Grd1.
“These are really good feedbacks and we continue to encourage parents to start off their kids here before entering Elementary or Primary Education,” Mr Vagi added.
Meanwhile, a small group of children at the Port Moresby General Hospital joined in on BBP’s 15th anniversary celebrations as well.
Patricia Kowila the teacher for Buk Bilong Pikinini LLC at the Port Moresby General Hospital said, the program is a bit different because the kids are sick and most of them are not able to make it for the sessions. During the celebrations only 4 kids from the children’s pediatric Ward C were able to join in on the celebrations.
“She said, those who are not able to walk, she takes reading books, coloring books and other activities for the children to work on to keep them going and most of all to help the kids forget about the pain.”
Also present was the Assistant Ward Manager for the Children’s Pediatric Ward 3C who acknowledged the efforts of what Buk Bilong Pikini has put in to help children in the ward with basic education services.
Assistant Ward Manager for the Children’s Pediatric Ward 3C Sr Esther Pisoro said, they keep up to 30+ children who are infected mostly with TB and mal-nutrition that are referred from the 22 provinces in the country.
She added that, those children who are kept at the hospital for more than 1-2 years under intensive-care are missing out on their education.
“But all thanks to BbP, they have seen great improvements from the children especially with their grammar, speaking better English and their mental health,” she said.