Buk bilong Pikinini (BbP) will this week be celebrating Literacy Week with the theme “Our Country Our Story” with cultural learning, financial literacy activities and events together with the organisation’s donor partners, volunteers and parents.
Literacy, Numeracy, digital skills and cultural knowledge are all equally important aspects children need to prepare for their future careers and life in Papua New Guinea.
As the country lags behind its neighbours in the Pacific with regards to literacy rates and access to education opportunities, BbP seeks to use Literacy Week to advocate for the importance of Early Childhood Education, Libraries and Inclusive Education to increase literacy rates.
From Monday to Wednesday, the children enrolled in BbP’s ECE program will be studying the importance of the ocean, village, forest and animals in PNG culture through craft activities and story-telling by parents and officers from the National Museum of PNG. The children will then display their stories, which will be added to the BbP learning app so all children across the country can share their culture and customs.
Thursday and Friday will be all about financial literacy and the children will be setting up shops and hold a ‘Market Day’ and learn through play to demonstrate their numeracy skills to parents, donor partners and invited guests. BbP has also created a financial literacy video in partnership with BSP which will be used as part of the ECE program to teach the children about PNG notes, coins and the importance of saving.
The Literacy Week program has been generously sponsored by ExxonMobil PNG and includes learning materials, uniform t-shirts, mini cash registers and shopping trolleys, video production and logistics for all BbP’s Library Learning Centres across the country. BbP’s donor partners will be sending volunteers to engage with the children and lots of stationery, fruit, vegetables, drinks and baked goods the children will be “pretend selling” to each other during their Market Day celebration.