10 Women among 42 Elementary Teachers Graduate from Enga Teachers College

The Enga Teacher’s College recently celebrated the graduation of 42 new Elementary teachers. Ten of the students were women from Enga who received an Australia Awards Pacific Scholarship and are part of Australian efforts to increase the number of elementary teachers for Enga.

Each of the 10 women now have increased skills and knowledge to provide quality elementary teaching for children in their districts of Wabag, Wapenamanda, Kandep, Kopiam and Laiagam.

Australian High Commission representative, Suzanne Edgecombe, attended the graduation ceremony to see first-hand the wonderful impact that the Australian-supported Enga Teachers’ College is doing for Education in the province.

Ms. Edgecombe congratulated the graduands for successfully completing the Certificate in Elementary Teacher Training.

“Australia is proud to be supporting the Enga Teacher’s College to ensure that there are more qualified teachers to help address the education workforce gaps not only in Enga, but for the whole of Papua New Guinea.” said Ms. Edgecombe.

Ms Edgecombe said that the Australia Awards Pacific Scholarship is a unique scholarship program that is delivered in PNG. Enga Teacher’s College is one of over 25 PNG partner institutions that deliver health and education training across the country.

Since 2013, more than 900 Papua New Guineans have received an Australia Awards Pacific Scholarship. This year, around 400 scholarships were offered to women and men to study at health and education training institutions across the country.

The Australia Awards Pacific Scholarships are provided in line with priority sectors agreed by both the Governments of Australia and Papua New Guinea to target the workforce needs in the health and education sectors. Further information about the Australia Awards can be found at: www.australiaawards.org.pg.