Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister James Marape has issued a call to action for the Education Department to expedite the use of 2,000 scholarships offered by Indonesian colleges and universities. This is one of the ways that will strengthen the educational ties between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. This initiative is a direct result of the successful visit by Indonesia President H.E. Joko Widodo last month, during which both nations pledged to enhance bilateral educational cooperation. Prime Minister Marape has taken a proactive approach to capitalize on this opportunity, directing the Department of Education to ensure that the scholarships are leveraged effectively. During a meeting with Indonesian Ambassador to Papua New Guinea H.E. Andriana Supandy, Prime Minister Marape reaffirmed the significance of the scholarships and stressed the importance of timely action. He said that this initiative would not only enrich the educational experiences of Papua New Guinea students but also foster reciprocal benefits. Prime Minister Marape urged that the education department immediate utilize the 2,000 education scholarships generously extended by Indonesian colleges and universities. He highlighted that for every student sponsored by Indonesia, Papua New Guinea would reciprocate by sponsoring another Papua New Guinea student, marking a novel approach to fostering educational growth. "This opportunity presented by Indonesia is invaluable, and we must seize it with urgency." “By providing our youth access to international education, we are equipping them to make meaningful contributions to our nation's progress.” “This endeavor aligns seamlessly with our commitment to providing quality education, exemplified by our STEM students pursuing studies in the USA, with funding from the Papua New Guinea Government." These scholarships signify a landmark step towards elevating the educational landscape of both nations, fostering knowledge exchange, and fostering enduring cultural connections. Prime Minister Marape's resolute stance underscores the unwavering commitment to education's transformative power in steering the nations' shared future.

The Education Minister, Jimmy Uguro announced today that the National Executive Council has approved and endorsed the PNG Education Transformation Vision 2025 (PNGETV 2075) by the Education Department. The PNGETV 2075 is a 50-year education strategic plan that will span over 5 decades of continuous planning, management, implementation, and evaluation through short term plans such as MTDP IV, sector and agency plans, provincial plans, district plans, Local Level Government plans and ward plans. Education Minister, Mr Jimmy Uguro said that the government is now looking at overhauling the entire education system to see where we have gone wrong, where we are now and what we need to do in the next 50 years. “We are looking at that during the overhaul, maintaining the ones that we are doing well in and overhauling and reconstructing the ones that need to be upgraded so by 2075 we achieve the best for our education.” “Our Late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare talked about educating qualified Papua New Guineans and we have already achieved that.” “Our Marape-Rosso government has seen that something is missing and that is the mindset of our people that are not educated.” “We want to see that the education department through our education system, our curriculum, our teaching and learning, how we can improve and insert the best mindset for our citizens, and we reduce law and order that is happening around us.” He said that police, pastors, and churches as well as parents are trying their best to educate our people and change their mindset so we can avoid social issues. Minister Uguro further said that one of the main things they will be focussing on is teacher education, training, and development. “One of the challenges is lack of specialised teacher training institution that offer degree programs, especially in Primary school teaching.” “The school system structure 1-6-6 should be converted to 2-1-6-6 to include a 2year component for early childhood learning.” “This must be included as part of the mainstream education system because the first 5 years of a child’s life is important for their cognitive/intellectual development.” Minister Uguro added that teachers will need to upgrade so teachers who teach elementary schools must have diplomas, teachers for primary schools must hold degrees and teachers for Secondary schools must hold master’s degrees. “The government has a plan in place to provide funding for teachers to upskill themselves so they can provide quality education for their students.”

Coca-Cola has launched its the nationwide campaign that gives consumers a chance to win a share of the K250,000 prizes that are up for grabs. Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ Head of Brand and Channel, Gabriel Manoi said the ‘Take a Break, Refresh and Win’ promotion is to reward consumers as they gear up towards celebrating PNG’s 48th Independence plus at the same time be in the chance to win a return-trip package to witness the 60th Morobe Show in Lae, Morobe Province that will fall on the 04th–05thof November 2023. “Coca-Cola wants to provide consumers with an extra reason to celebrate with your family this Independence and what better way to do that then with the Coca-Cola brand for your chance to win.” All you need to do is purchase any three cans or more of any Coca-Cola 330ml products to get a coupon(from participating stores), fill in your details and drop it in any of the entry bins at the participating shop near you for your chance to win.” “Prizes up for grabs includes ten grand prize winners to attend the Morobe show in November.” “Included in the prize pool, twenty lucky winners will walk away with an Independence Party Pack valued over K3000, and three hundred weekly prize winners of shopping vouchers to the value of K150that will be drawn weekly for the period of the promotion.” The promotion starts this week, on August 14th and ends on October 13th with the first grand draw scheduled to announce on September 8th twenty lucky winners of the Independence Party Pack. The grand prize draw will be on October 14th to announce the ten grand prize winners who will join the Coca-Cola team in Lae for the 60thMorobe Show. The winners will have a chance to bring a guest and will have 3 nights’ accommodation, meals and spending money. So do not miss out, buy any three cans or more of 330ml either of Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Fanta Pineapple, Fanta Orange or Solo for your name to go into a draw to have the chance to win.

The National Book Week took place from August 8-10 and was celebrated under the theme, “Click on a Book, Pick up a Book, Read.” Students from Kopkop College took part in learning the importance of books and how technology can be used to access books. Throughout the week the primary and secondary schools participated in a variety of activities to celebrate the importance of reading and its lifelong benefits. Speaking at the opening of the Book Week on Tuesday August 8th, Kopkop College Primary School Principal Mr. Satchell Ben encouraged students to take reading seriously. He pointed out that over the recent years there has been a decline in children picking up a book outside of school and reading. “Some parents fear the increased technology has gotten in the way of children’s traditional love for reading. “However, we can actually use this technology to capture the interest that you children have in a tablet or a mobile phone to access literature.” “Starting from this week and onwards take advantage of the technology that you have and click on a book, pick up a book and read, do that and make it a lifelong habit.” 2023 Book Week Committee and Primary school teacher Ms. Pauline Kankonaru said that students from the junior school did book reviews and created posters based on their books, middle school have various activities from role play to creating booklets and the senior school did book reviews on fiction books. Ms. Kankonaru described the atmosphere at the school as “lots of fun and excitement. “I’ve been teaching in Kopkop College for almost three years now and as an English teacher I would say that reading is taken seriously in Kopkop College.” “One way of encouraging students in reading is having a mini-library in the classroom. You will find in every primary classroom there is a mini-library with shelves full of reading books.” She feels Book Week is too short and should instead be extended to two weeks. “PNG needs to be open-minded about the importance of books and reading. We need to educate the younger generations to love books and enjoy reading more.” She feels the theme speaks to the younger generation whose lives are being taken over by technology. “Anyone can get access to hundreds of books through their smart phones, especially young generations, so instead of TikTok, click on a book, pick up a book and read.”

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power has announced that USAID will provide $1.2million (K4.4million) to establish a solar mini-grid system in Papua New Guinea’s Central province. This is in partnership with clean energy company WEnergy Global. The mini-grid will connect at least 800 households and 30 businesses to electricity improving energy access for at least 4,800 people. Administrator Power made this announcement following her visit to the Morata Settlement area where she spoke with the community members about the impact of improved energy access. Papua New Guinea has one of the Asia Pacific region's lowest electrification rates, where only an estimated 13 percent of the population was connected to the national power grid in 2020. The United States partnered with the Governments of Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan to form the Papua New Guinea Electrification Partnership (PEP) initiative, which supports PNG’s goal of connecting 70 percent of the population to electricity by 2030. This new funding will support USAID’s contribution, the USAID-PEP activity, which aims to deliver 350,000 new household connections by 2025. USAID is working to catalyze investments with private sector stakeholders to advance Administrator Power’s vision to ensure that our programs sustain progress beyond their life cycles. The $1.2 million (K4.45 million) award is part of USAID’s EDGE Fund, a seed fund designed to leverage the private sector’s expertise in confronting some of the world’s most significant challenges of our time, such as climate change, democratic backsliding and anti-corruption, food insecurity, and the need for inclusive economic growth. In Papua New Guinea, USAID will utilize the EDGE fund to support and catalyze the private sector to jumpstart investments in off-grid areas and support the Government of Papua New Guinea’s goal of connecting 70 percent of the population to electricity by 2030, and to advance climate change objectives in the Pacific Islands.

Cocoa farmers from a remote community along the Sepik River are now connected to the leading cocoa industry players in the country and overseas and receive a premium price for their quality cocoa products. Thanks to the support from the EU-STREIT PNG Programme and PNG Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) and MUPA Cocoa Cooperative Society, 240 farmers from two villages in Yuat LLG of Angoram District in East Sepik Province, have established a business link with Queen Emma Chocolate Company and sent the first shipment of quality beans to this leading PNG chocolate-making company, achieving a considerably higher market price. According to the Director of MUPA Cocoa Cooperative Ltd, Sperian Kapia, the company is paying a higher rate for their dried beans at K630 per bag, which is about K70 to K100 more than the average price K530 to K570 per bag offered by intermediary buyers. He said that with this price, the first shipment of MUPA, consisting of 40 bags of quality dried beans, fetches an additional K4, 000 into the cooperative’s bank account. This premium price paid for dried beans and extra income generated at the cooperative level, allows MUPA and affiliated fermentarians to pay a higher rate for wet beans, extending the benefits to farmers at the grassroots level, who produce and supply wet beans to fermentarians. “The usual price for wet beans used to be lower, around K 1.40 per KG, but thanks to the direct connection formed with the premium buyer, we are now able to pay the farmers at a higher price, K1.70 per KG of wet beans, which is 21 percent above the normal rate,” said Sperian. “This helps the parents in my community to pay for their kids’ school fees, buy utensils for their houses, and better food to improve family’s diets.” “With this support and market arrangement that gives us more money, we can also continue to support our farmers in terms of social development; we have school and want to support it in terms of infrastructure and educational material, also our health care.” Market linkage establishment is vital for remote farming communities as it opens up access to niche markets, allowing them to sell products at competitive prices, and gain valuable insights into market trends. As a result, they can enhance their productivity, improve product quality, and ultimately uplift their livelihoods. With this perspective, the EU-STREIT PNG Programme works on improving the access of local agricultural enterprises to domestic and overseas markets. It includes, among others, organizing exposure visits to national and international agri-food trade shows, where the Sepik-based agripreneurs can learn, interact, identify potential buyers, and forge new business opportunities. Sperian was one of the Sepik cocoa model farmers who, with the support of the EU-STREIT PNG Programme, participated in the International Food Service & Hospitality Exhibition in Singapore in August 2022 – where he initiated the market linkage with Queen Emma Chocolate Company that was participating at the same Exhibition. “It was there that Queen Emma Chocolate’s representatives showed interest in our cocoa and invited me to visit their factory in Port Moresby. We reached to an agreement to supply the company with our unique cocoa dried beans.” “This was an exciting moment for our community that depends on cocoa income to sustain and improve their well-being.” The EU-STREIT PNG Programme, led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is the largest grant-funded Programme of the European Union in Papua New Guinea and aims to help improve the lives of the farmers from East and West Sepik provinces, by focusing on increasing sustainable and inclusive economic development of rural areas through improved economic returns and agri-business development environment in cocoa, vanilla and fisheries value chains.

43 students will be leaving in the next week to travel to the United States of America to study there through Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Scholarship. The STEM Scholarship is funded by the Papua New Guinea government through the Education department. Secretary for Education, Dr Uke Kombra said that this concept was brought about by Prime Minister James Marape when he was the Education Minister in 2009. “He (Marape) introduced this concept for the National Executive Council to approve and the policy was not implemented until 2017.” “In 2020, the NEC approved the Policy, and it was launched by the Prime Minister himself.” “60 students were selected originally but few have withdrawn but today we will see 43 of them receive their scholarships.” “Basically, the students that come into the Schools of Excellence (SOE) were the top students from the grade 10 National Examinations in 2020 and once they were in the SOE, they were the top students in Grade 12 examinations that they sat for in 2022.” Dr Kombra said that there is no set criteria as yet however students that were selected took up STEM subjects and topped the National Examinations. The 43 students are currently studying in different tertiary institutions across the country, and they will continue their studies at one of the two universities, South Dakota State University and Nicholls State University. The scholarship includes travel expenses, boarding, tuition fees and living allowance for the scholarship recipients. Dr Kombra added that the government is looking at educating the human resources of the country and this scholarship program is the start for that. He wished them all the best in their studies as they prepared to leave the country to go take up studies at the two selected universities.

The National Rugby League (NRL) today confirmed the four (4) Clubs that will compete in the exciting Round One 2024 NRL Telstra Premiership matches planned for Las Vegas. Following a competitive process and careful consideration of Club proposals, four teams have been selected to participate in 2024: Brisbane Broncos Manly Sea Eagles South Sydney Rabbitohs Sydney Roosters NRL CEO Andrew Abdo thanked the Broncos, Rabbitohs, Roosters and Sea Eagles for their proposals and acknowledged NRL broadcast partners for their strong support and commitment to the concept. “The 2024 Las Vegas matches will form part of an exciting ‘Australia Week’ in Las Vegas where we will be showcasing rugby league and Australia to the US market,” Mr Abdo said. “We are now working collaboratively with the four clubs to finalise arrangements for the proposed matches in Las Vegas and make this a blockbuster event for fans by maximising travel, attendance and enjoyment of a unique rugby league experience. “Rugby league will be on a stage which the sport has simply never been on before and we look forward to giving all clubs the opportunity in coming years.” Further announcements will be made in the coming weeks in relation to the proposed 2024 NRL Telstra Premiership opening matches in Las Vegas. Source: NRL. Com

802 students from the 11 Secondary schools in the New Ireland province joined the rest of the grade 12 students nationwide to sit for the Written Expression Exam. More than 32, 000 students nationwide sat for the exam today. The students were given a week to read through the exam booklet and will write on the topic in the exam. The topic for this year’s exam is Women in Business. New Ireland Education Chief Executive Officer, Mr Apelis Benson said that they had received their exam booklets on time and they distributed them to the schools. “Even though the weather wasn’t on their side, we managed to deliver the booklets to all schools including those on the outer islands.” “Students started the exams well on time and I am confident that the students will do well.” He said exam invigilators made their way to schools early so there were no hiccups. Mr Benson wished all the students sitting for the exam all the best. Meanwhile, Education Secretary, Dr Uke Kombra warned schools that the penalties for cheating in the National Exams is non certification. He also wished all the students the very best.

On Monday, 7th of August, 2023, grade 12 students nationwide will sit for the Grade 12 Written Expression Exam. A total of 32,058 students from 220 Grade 12 schools including the six National Schools of Excellence, private and permitted schools have nominated to sit the exam. Secretary for Education, Dr. Uke Kombra said that he is confident that students and teachers have prepared well for this exam. “I am now calling on all the Provincial Divisions of Education, school administrations and parents to support our students give their best.” “I am also calling on the general public to respect our students and support them in every way possible to sit the exam next week Monday.” “I confirm that the Department through the Measurement Services Division, has already dispatched all the materials for the Grade 12 Written Expression Examination on time to all Provinces.” “Students were issued with the Booklets by their nominated schools on Monday, 31st July.” “The reading was for one week in preparation for the actual exam.” All the Provincial Education Advisors (PEAs), Provincial Examination Supervisors, Senior Secondary Inspectors, Guidance Officers, Principals and Governing Councils are asked to be vigilant and security conscious with the security of the Examination Materials and through to the actual administration by following the rules enforced by the Measurement Services Division. “Everyone involved in the examination process are advised to prevent all tendencies towards any mal-practices that may compromise the results." "They are also reminded that the penalty for cheating or assisting to cheat in national examinations is non-certification and requested all citizens to support fair examinations to all which is in our national interest.” Meanwhile, the marking of the Written Expression Exam is scheduled for 20th to 26th August in Port Moresby. Dr. Kombra has urged students to study hard for the final examinations, which are coming up in October. These exams are scheduled as follows: i. Grade 10 (9th–13th October) ii. Grade 12 (16th–20th October) iii. Grade 8 (23rd – 26th October) iv. Grade 12 STEM (30th October – 3rd November) “I wish every student in Grade 12, all the very best in their Written Expression Examination.”

Twenty staff from the National Volunteer Service of Papua New Guinea signed their contracts as Managers and were commissioned as public servants recently. They will be heading various divisions and sections in the organisation. The officers signed their contracts in the presence of the National Volunteer Service Executive Director Molly Willie and National Volunteer Service Council Chairman Bernard Maladina. National Volunteer Service Council Chairman Bernard Maladina said that they want to set a new trend where officers are transparent and held accountable in their work conduct towards themselves and especially to the citizens of this country. “We want to bring forth a new group of public servants that are effective and efficient in delivering Government services to our people without fear or favour.” From the twenty officers who signed the contract, there were four Directors which included the Director for the newly formed Public Relations and Marketing division, Jacqueline Krewanty. The sixteen others were managers in the respective divisions of Corporate Services, Public Relations & Marketing, Volunteer Management and Policy, Planning, Research and Monitoring & Evaluation. The contract signing and commissioning was facilitated by the Dirua lawyers, whose managing director Emily Dirua, also present encouraged the commissioned officers to stick to their oaths. NVS Executive Director Molly Willie welcomed the officers onboard and encouraged them to be model public servants in their respective positions.

Kylie Minogue has announced a residency at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, with tickets going on sale early next month. The Australian singer broke the news on social media, writing on Instagram: “VEGAS BABY! So excited to headline the all-new @VoltaireLV at @VenetianVegas starting this fall. See you there! #MoreThanJustAResidency.” Minogue, 55, will be the first performer to headline at the Voltaire venue, which is set to open in November. The three-month stint will be her first in Vegas. According to the Venetian’s website, the new venue - which seats just 1,000 people - will provide a unique setting “blurring the lines between an intimate club, concert, and non-stop entertainment venue.” Revealing the star’s upcoming stint of performances on its website, the Venetian said: “The venue’s opening on November 3 kicks off the Australian pop icon’s first Vegas Residency where she will perform tracks from her highly anticipated release ‘Tension,’ alongside many of her greatest hits including ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ and ‘All The Lovers.’” In a quote on the site, Minogue said: “The spirit of Voltaire is one of pure, authentic fun. It’s one I resonate with as a pop artist. My new album ‘Tension’ is all about the space where the intimate and universal come together and Voltaire represents just that. [caption id="attachment_43201" align="aligncenter" width="1161"] The singer's residency will be at the Voltaire, a new music venue at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas[/caption] “The creative team has designed an environment where people can get up and dance at their tables and revel in the night – that’s what Voltaire is and I can’t wait to perform in this intimate and exciting setting.” Minogue is the latest big name star to take on a residency in Vegas, following in the footsteps of the likes of Lady Gaga and Adele. Earlier this year, Minogue had a hit with “Padam Padam,” the lead single from her upcoming 16th album. Seven of the 11 songs on “Tension” were produced and co-written with her long-time collaborators, Biff Stannard and Duck Blackwell. Source: CNN News