The University of Papua New Guinea’s (UPNG) School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS) recently presented their four-year strategic operational plan to the UPNG Council. According to Executive Dean Professor Leo Marai, the strategic plan is to be carried out from 2022- 2025. He stated that the aim of the plan is to re-engineer the school by achieving academic excellence for the next four years. He added that the document took two months to work on by the Strategic team. “This Strategic operational plan will guide us and provide clear direction for our efforts in order to deliver excellence and management research, teaching and learning at a school level.” Marai added that the plan also emphasizes that the school will maintain existing partnerships and build new ones for more great research and publications including a review of academic programs especially at a course graduate level. “The strategic plan will depend on all academic staff members and administration to deliver our council’s targets through their respective work plans. I will monitor the operational plan and make sure that the structure is followed regularly through strand meetings, resource committee meetings and other committee meetings in the school.” According to Marai, he said that by 2025, the school should have achieved most of the targets that are set out in the plan. He also thanked the strategic team for their contribution in creating this document including young academics whom he believes will lead the way for the school. In addition to this, the UPNG Vice Chancellor, Professor Frank Griffin has commended the Executive Dean as well as the staff of SHSS for putting together a great document that will bring the school forward. He added that upon his meeting with the Executive Dean regarding the planning of the Strategic Plan, he realized that there was not much explanation or guidance needed because the school already had a council skeletal framework of what the strategic plan is going to turn out to be. “I saw that they already knew what the key areas of interventions were. I also saw that they had all the goals there and then in front of them and that the only advice I gave was that they start discussing what they want to achieve in 2025 and work backwards from there.” “With that, the document presented was structured in a professional way with clear guidelines and targets they wanted to achieve by 2025 and with the result of that discussion, I have seen that has gone beyond what I expected with very clear guidelines of what the school wants to achieve.” Griffin has also urged all other schools and Open College in the University to come up a with a well-articulated strategic plan in order to be able to operate as a University with one goal in mind to reposition the University and transform it from this year onward. He thanked Mr Marai for a good job and that the school has now come to the first part of their production of the strategic plan. Griffin added that the council will now take a look at it and will make cosmetic changes if needed in which the school will be made aware of as well. He concluded that the easy part is now done which is putting the plan together with the hard part now approaching which is the implementation.

St Charles Lwanga Secondary School in Port Moresby yesterday opened a new 3-storey learning facility comprised of a staff room, department offices, an audio visual room, computer labs for the upper secondary classes, a prayer room, sick bay and an SRC office. The Project initially began in March last year and was completed only last month. Principal of St. Charles Lwanga, Bro. Joymon Mathew said the total funding of the project was K1.9 million. He said K1million came from the project fees paid in by parents, K500, 000 came from the Department of National Planning and Monitoring Division and K400, 000 taken from the Catholic Church. “With the new facility put in place, we strive to get more funding support and improve the learning facilities in the school to provide quality education to our students.” Bro. Joymon added that the new learning facility building is a P&C project, approved by the parents and guardians of 2021 and 2022. In the past, the P&C was the main financial contributor for the many infrastructure projects in the school. “I would like to thank the parents for their support towards the infrastructures of the school with now the new 3-storey building. I would also like to thank the Department of National Planning and the Church for their help for making this happen.” The Learning Facility was officially opened and blessed by Cardinal His Eminence Archbishop Sir John Ribat. Upon the blessing, he encouraged the teachers, staff and parents to continue their work in praying for the students and forming them into being someone great by preparing them well for what the future holds for them. Despite the opening of the new facility, Bro. Joymon said that the school is still in need of infrastructural projects to take place including more grade 7 and 8 classrooms as well as teachers houses. Joymon commended the parents for their continuous support mainly towards the infrastructures of the school.

Divine Word University welcomed a total of 1,689 students to the campus as of last week Friday. According to the President of DWU, Professor Fr Philp Gibbs, most of these students have not yet registered as they are yet to sort out their school fees. He said that though registrations have closed last Friday, he has given students as of yesterday to register. “For the Registrations that took place for one week starting from the 7th to the 11th of February, many of the students did not register due to a number of factors. Factors including; flight disruptions as well as HECAS students not being issued their tickets on time from the DHERST office.” “This is why we decided that registrations be extended for another week but no more than the 18th of February. We however, gave students as of yesterday to complete their registrations since we saw that many of them are still yet to register.” In addition to this, Professor Gibbs stated that word has been sent out to those who are on the reserved list that there is space available for them. These students have been given yesterday and today to secure a place for themselves in the institution. “Unfortunately, with these reserved students will not be given accommodation by the university as the dorm facilities are pretty full at this stage.” “These students can only be registered under non-residential in which they would have to have to look for their own accommodation outside the campus.” As unfortunate as it sounds, Professor Gibbs said that there has to be strictly two students per room and with more students coming in, there is not enough space to cater for those. Professor Gibbs added that there are not enough funds to cater for more dormitories. Apart from this, Professor Gibbs stated that out of the 1, 689 students who came in for registrations, only 461 were vaccinated and about 27% of the students presented flu-like symptoms when they came in for their medical check-up before registering. “These students were referred to our Covid nurse for further testing. Apart from that, I am happy for those students who made the decision to get vaccinated. Though that it is not half of the students in the campus, this is an effort.” Professor Gibbs concluded that despite this, for those students who have already registered, have begun classes last week and are now in their second week of school.

Divine Word University officially opened their Fr. Frank Mihalic Male Dormitory at the Madang Campus on Thursday this week. According to the President of DWU, Professor Fr Philip Gibbs, the dormitory is a double floor worth over K2 million. Fr Gibbs said the construction of the new dormitory took up to six months and was fully completed last month. He further added that the new dormitories are a replacement of the old boys’ cottages and that they will be ready of use once students resume for studies. The opening of the new dormitory took place on Thursday with a number of speeches given followed by the cutting of the ribbon. The opening was officiated by the Diwai Enterprise Limited Board Chairman, Mr Kevin Murray and witnessed by the staff and members of the University. In addition to this, Fr Gibbs said that the students can have access to the new dorm once they have fully registered for studies come next week Monday. “We are hoping to have more dormitories in the future for our students which we will be able to fund once we have the money.” Despite of this, Fr Gibbs said that he is looking forward to having the students resume back for studies and to start the 2022 Academic year on a good note.

A total of five vehicles were involved in a minor car accident along the Poreporena Freeway between 5pm to 6pm this evening. The accident was caused by a blue 10-seater whose driver was heavily intoxicated. The vehicles involved in the accident included a 25-seater bus, a white 5th element belonging to Corps Security, a blue 5th element and a black harrier belonging to an Asian family. According to the driver of the Corps Security vehicle, Koma Korua, he said the driver of the blue 10-seater lost control on the freeway resulting in a chain of accidents on all the other vehicles. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the process, however, there were damages to all vehicles involved with the Harrier being more damaged than the others. In addition to this, a passenger of the 25-seater bus, has raised concerns about drivers being intoxicated whilst driving. She said although there were no major casualties, it could have been worse had it not been for the quick actions of the other drivers.

Divine Word University now has a new double floor male dormitory worth over K2 million. The President of DWU, Professor Fr Philip Gibbs, made this announcement recently to cater for the new and continuing students coming in this year. According to Fr Gibbs, the construction of the new dorm took up to six months to complete. He said that new dormitories are a replacement of the old boys’ cottages and that the new dorm should be up and ready for use before the end of this month. “The students should be able to use the new dormitory once we’ve received a residence certificate. This is the perfect timing as students will soon be resuming school.” Gibbs however said that the dormitory can only cater for half of the male student population alone. This being that the number of students coming in to study at DWU has increased this year. “So far we have estimated that seventy-two students will be able to have accommodation whilst a total of 150 students will still need accommodation.” Gibbs added that for now the students will have to bunk up in rooms. “The University still needs two more male dorms, however, we don’t have the funds to do so as we also have other major costs to cover in the school.” “We hope that this issue is sorted out so that we can stop inconveniences like this for students in the future.” With the recent loan borrowed by the University to cover costs towards the end of last year, Fr Gibbs said that the construction of new dormitories will be put on hold for now until there is some sort of funding given or raised.

Divine Word University students will see an increase in tuition fees this year, compared to last year. The 2022 fee structure put in place by the University, will cover all costs including electricity, water bills, internet services and other related additional costs. According to the President of DWU, Professor Fr Philip Gibbs, he said that fees had to increase this year due to the high cost of living. He added that with not enough funds coming from the Government, the institution had to increase fees to cover all costs. “With the services needed to keep the school running, bills have to paid monthly including electricity which cost about K160, 000 as well as water bills worth more than K100, 000 and K130, 000 for internet services.” In addition to this, Professor Gibbs stated that the cost of living increases by 7% every year which prompts the university to raise fees for students. “Compared to last year, fees increased depending on the programs students take. For some courses, students paid K10, 000, whereas for this year, the fees have increased by K4, 000 concluding that the students will now have to pay up to K14, 000 while K18, 000 increase is effected for health courses.” Fr Gibbs however explained that the fees charged, are subsidized by the institution whereas for a regular student studying for some programs, the actual fees will cost around K35, 000 while a student studying under a health course will pay a fee of K55, 000. “To make things clear, the subsidization put in place helps cut down costs for parents and this is something that everyone must understand.” According to Fr Gibbs, he said that the institution had to reluctantly raise the fees for this year in order to keep the school running.

The East New Britain Provincial Education Board will convene a meeting next week to deliberate on Teachers Posting especially the new graduands waiting in line to be employed. ENB Education Provincial Advisor, Mr Alkan Mararang said the meeting must be done on scheduled time for schools to resume on time also. “We are currently processing applications, whereas for now, we have a total of thirty-nine request of our new graduates with eight applicants requesting to teach in high schools and the rest to primary schools.” Mararang stressed that the new graduates, will be properly screened before going ahead with employment based on requirements given. “This is to avoid issues that may likely to occur such as forging of signatures on certificates or teachers not being paid on time due to some of their documents not being in order.” Despite having an understanding that there are no vacancies at the moment for primary school teachers, Mr Marang said they will make an exception and come to a final decision during the meeting. The ENB Provincial Education Board is also looking at another group of teachers from other provinces who have requested to teach in ENB for this academic year. Mr Marang confirmed that they have already received request from nine teachers from other provinces and they are many more still sending in their request. “All the applications should be finalized and confirmed before the start of the academic year as we still have some more teachers both new graduates and existing teachers are yet to put in their applications.” The Board will also carry out a review on the 7th of February 2022 to cater for those teachers who have been overlooked or displaced in the previous years. Marang said the recruitment of teachers will be carried out successfully only if the teachers meet all the requirements given by the provincial education board.  

Teachers leave fares in the country continue to be an on-going issue every year where they are either eligible or not eligible to receive their leave fares. As for teachers in East New Britain, this seems to be the main case where only 50% of their leave fares were released to them. ENB Education Advisor, Mr Alkan Mararang said, teachers were not paid on time, however their leave fares were paid out to them during the Christmas week. He said the delay was caused by outstanding payments from 2020 that had to be settled first before teachers could receive their fares for 2021. The East New Britain Education Division has been faced with the ongoing issues with backlogs that date back to 2020 and this has affected leave fares for this year. He said that they are working towards removing these back logs so that teachers’ payment will not be affected in the long run. “I have put together a budget for this year that will cater for this year’s leave fares and also for all outstanding payments from previous years as far as 2017.” Despite Mararang’s effort in making it possible for teachers to receive their leave fares, teachers in the province have aired their frustration after realizing it was it was too late to spend Christmas in their villages. Meanwhile the Principal of Utmei Secondary, Mr. Bernard Manau, said teachers in his school were also disappointed that the leave fares arrived late and only half of it was paid out. “Five to six percent of our teachers are from other provinces, who are not happy about the payment they were given.” “It is the job of the government to make sure they are fully compensated.” He said most of the teachers could not go for holidays as their leave fares were not enough to take them back and forth. “Apart from these ongoing issues, the teachers are always striving to do their best in teaching and have not once failed in their job just because of something like this.” Photo credit: Kuri Photography (File photo): Some teachers from Utmei Secondary pose with School Principal Bernard Manau 

“My mission is to equip youths from different churches and communities in order to mould them in building a better nation.” These are the words of one determined individual who has had an impact on the lives of youths for over twenty years now. Shane Baiva, who comes from Gaire and Barakau has always had a life-long dream to help others. Baiva came up with the initiative to help youths through a conference he founded called the Worship Warrior Conference. Through this conference, Baiva has helped many youths become the people they are today. The conference itself is an annual Church initiative program of the Body of Christ aimed for youths of different churches in Gaire and the whole of Central Province. “I started this conference based on experience. I was once a youth who went through the hardships of life just like most youths these days." "As a youth growing up, I was faced with a lot of challenges. This is the reason why I created the conference as a way of empowering youths to positively impact the community." He said that things such as music is used as a base to involve more youths to participate. “We pick an avenue for them to engage in by creating what we call electives. This way, they are given a choice on what topics they are most interested in. Electives include; leadership, courtship, mentorship, motivational speaking and career talk.” Baiva who comes as a motivational speaker for youths, said that everything taught during the conference is based on one’s spiritual side of life. In other words, the conference tries to base the spiritual lives of youths to their daily lives. “Most importantly, we aim to build youths to have a good career in life for the future by using the Word of God. We try as much to give them advice on something they want to pursue in life.” “During the conference, we also provide other training sessions such as vocal training for those who are interested in singing, whether it be for a Church choir or becoming a local artist one day.” In terms of invited speakers, Baiva said they are invited based on where their profession and life experience stands. This include Church leaders, leaders from different aspects of life as well as people who have some way faced a number of problems in their lives growing up. He said these are the kinds of people with living testimonies who he believes will have an impact on youths. “We also carry out special awareness sessions, where we look at community needs and issues that need to be addressed such as drug and alcohol where most youths are involved in.” According to Baiva, based on previous conferences held over the past years, there were good outcomes and positive feedbacks given by youths. He said that more youths requested for the Conference to be extended over its scheduled time. “We have had youths come back to take part in the conference even to this day, especially those who joined in years ago. One thing I would say about us the coordinators of the conference is that, we do not only mould youths during the conference, but we also help them all year round based on their needs.” Additional studies such as the school of worship or school of biblical foundation studies are also provided for youths in which they take part in and are issued a certificate at the end of each conference. “Most of these youths use these certificates as a reference when applying for jobs and I would say, many of them have been successful. This is why the conference is so important to them for the benefit of their long-term goals.” Baiva has also supported those who were unable to complete their formal education by providing them the necessary information and lessons that any other formal school would provide. “For this year’s conference, we have invited a number of speakers to join us including Glen Burua himself who will be our motivational speaker for the event.” The Conference which started at a village setting in Gaire, has now expanded to other parts of Central Province. Baiva said that the aim now is to expand to other parts of the country including East New Britain and Morobe Province with the hope that more funding is made available. “For now, the funding of this program, comes from my own pocket money including the help from some of my other church colleagues and friends. We have funded the conference for years now.” Shane Baiva who is an author by profession, has written a total of twenty books and forty-nine booklets. Baiva is the youngest writer to be declared by the former Late, Governor General, Sir Paulias Matane. “My aim now for the future of the youths is to make sure the conference runs in all twenty-two provinces with two conferences held in a month.” Apart from the annual WWC, there is another program that runs under the coordination of Shane Baiva, called Worship Night. The Worship Night usually runs once every two months. Baiva concluded that the conference will be taking place from the 13th-16th of this month at Gaire Village. He has also made an appeal to everyone to help contribute at least K1 towards this worthy cause.

Police officers on duty at the various checkpoints around Port Moresby city on New Year’s Eve last night were well supplied with food rations, including from local company the Funeral Home, where a team was donating several food items to the officers. The General Manager of Funeral Home, Losa Agonia, said that this is part of their support in helping the police maintain peace during this period. “Every year we donate a variety of food items to police working on New Year's Eve operations,” she said. “Donating to our policemen is something we do every year by helping them in doing their jobs better so that they can keep the citizens at peace and to avoid trouble.” According to Agonia, New Year is not the only festive time of the year that Funeral Home donates to the police, but also on Christmas Day as well as providing services for those officers who have passed away. “This is something that we have been doing for the past years now and we will for sure continue our services.” The Funeral Home team were last at the Erima Wildlife roundabout at zone three donating foot rations to the police officers there before heading out.

Police in the nation’s capital city of Port Moresby have apprehended a suspect involved in an attempted carjacking at the Gerehu suburb. According to the Port Moresby Metropolitan Superintendent, Gideon Ikumu, the suspect was apprehended by a police unit at the Gerehu stage three area in the early hours of the evening and is being detained at the Gerehu police station cell. This is perhaps the only major incident reported so far from what has been described as a peaceful New Year’s Eve before midnight. “Apart from that, the operations carried out in the city have so far been successful with only minor alcohol related issues that the police were able to deal with,” he said. He added that with the full police presence during the New Year’s Eve period, they were able to carry out their jobs well. Meanwhile, a run around the city tonight saw roadblocks set up at the various main zones in the city. For zone three in the Moresby North East electorate, the police checkpoint set up at the Erima Roundabout also reported no major incidents. The same also for the checkpoint at Badili where officers maintained the roadblock to check for alcohol related issues.