Nestled in the National Capital District (NCD), yet minutes’ drive off the City of Port Moresby is a primary school, Bomana Primary School.
You can see hoary infrastructure, but nothing was going to stop the enthusiasm of happy children and teachers who were keen to launch their newly established double classroom funded by Bank South Pacific (BSP) through the bank’s annual community project initiative, which was delivered by BSP Gordons Premium Branch.
The school that serves the surrounding community of Bomana and 9-mile was abuzz for the momentous occasion that occurred after a long time. That is no small feat when you consider the challenges the school faces every day.
Over the recent years, the school experienced several challenges in terms of the conditions of existing classroom infrastructures. There has always been an increase in the number of students enrolled each year, resulting in overcrowding in classrooms, which makes learning and teaching ineffective.
“We currently have close to 2,000 students with a few classes having up to 70 to 80 students in a class. We tried to build two more classrooms to accommodate, especially for our grade 3 students but we were unable to complete the double classroom that stood idle since 2017,” said Bomana Primary School Head Teacher Maryanne Ari.
“With this newly refurbished double classroom, we really appreciate the assistance from BSP as we anticipate a good start for us next year in 2021. The new classroom facilities will definitely ease the problem of overcrowding and will provide conducive learning environment for our children,” Ms Ari added.
BSP Gordons Premium Branch Manager Antonia Dru overwhelmed by the warm welcome from teachers and students during the handover said, “My team and I had planned and decided to deliver our community project for this year to another community. However, at the selection level, this school was chosen for my team to assist. I am thankful we have assisted this school instead, at the look of the completed classroom and the smiles on the children’s faces show how much this assistance is appreciated.”
“I believe that this project will promote quality education for this community, and on behalf of the bank, I would like to take this opportunity to say that we are pleased to contribute to the development of our communities and of our young elites, ” said Ms Dru.
“Now the classroom building is yours. Please remember that from now on, it is your responsibility to take good care of it. I hope it will be maintained so that the project will benefit a large number of students for many years to come,” she added.
This year, the bank is conveying Digital Inclusion and refurbishing of specialised classrooms to schools and institutions. Since 2009, BSP has delivered over 500 Community Projects in PNG and in countries that we operate in to the value of over K11m.
The bank continues to do so this year equipping our communities with Hand Wash Stations – Installation Hand Wash Stations, medical equipment for hospitals and equipment schools with Computers and accessories.
Each of our Community Project is worth K30, 000 and this year, we are delivering 46 projects in PNG plus over 100 wash stations to respective communities in response to Covid-19.
From the 46 proposed community projects, 25 have been completed and handed over to the respective communities whilst 21 are yet to be handed over.
