National Literacy Plan - UNESCO · Papua New Guinea 5 (Draft) National Literacy Plan 2.2 Develop a...

25
Papua New Guinea 1 (Draft) National Literacy Plan NATIONAL LITERACY PLAN PAPUA NEW GUINEA National Literacy and Awareness Secretariat Office of Library and Archives Department of Education PNG Email: [email protected] Telephone: (675) 3437107 Fax: (675) 325 4251 Digice: (675) 71145466 (DRAFT)

Transcript of National Literacy Plan - UNESCO · Papua New Guinea 5 (Draft) National Literacy Plan 2.2 Develop a...

Papua New Guinea 1 (Draft) National Literacy Plan

NATIONAL LITERACY PLAN

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

National Literacy and Awareness Secretariat Office of Library and Archives

Department of Education PNG

Email: [email protected] Telephone: (675) 3437107

Fax: (675) 325 4251 Digice: (675) 71145466

(DRAFT)

(Draft) National Literacy Plan 2

NATIONAL LITERACY PLAN

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

I Rationale (Problems or needs this plan is designed to address)

This plan is needed because:

1. The illiteracy rate in the country is unacceptably high. This includes

children, out-of-school youth and adults.

2. Many children, especially in the rural areas and settlements, do not get a

place in the nation’s Elementary, Primary and Community schools.

3. Many people, especially children and youth, are losing their language and

culture.

4. Many people do not realise that learners need to start their education in a

language the learner already knows.

5. National Executive Council Decision 53/2000, point 3, directs that a

National Literacy Plan be developed.

II Guiding principles

1. Language and culture maintenance are of utmost importance.

2. Work from the known to the unknown; that is, start with what the

learners know which is their local language and culture and work toward

what they do not know; that is, how to read and write printed materials.

3. Government, churches, missions and other Non Government

Organisations (NGOs) should work together to meet the literacy needs of

the print illiterate population.

4. Tokples Prep School (TPS) and Elementary programs should work

together for the smooth implementation of Elementary when TPS

programs are converted to Elementary programs.

5. Beginning literacy materials, whether locally authored or from outside the

language area, should be written or adapted in the local community and

be about topics that are familiar and of interest to the students.

Papua New Guinea 3 (Draft) National Literacy Plan

6. The local community must participate in the operation of the literacy

program. This includes:

6.1 The appointment and discipline of teachers;

6.2 The Establishment and operation of a Board of management for the

school;

6.3 Support for the school such as building classrooms and supporting the

teachers; and

6.4 Development of literacy materials.

7. An adequate supply of appropriate literacy materials for the school must

be developed.

III Goal

1. Provide an opportunity for every print illiterate person in Papua New

Guinea to learn to read and write and express themselves in print in a

language they understand if they so desire.

2. To facilitate the raising of the national literacy rate to 70% or higher by

the year 2025.

IV Objectives

1. To encourage or maintain TPS programs where elementary is not yet

being implemented. TPS programs should be as similar as possible to

Elementary schools to facilitate ease of implementation of Elementary

when it becomes available.

2. Encourage the development of TPS programs, possibly expanded to be

more than just a one year basic literacy program, where children do not

have an opportunity to enroll in the formal school system. Students in

these programs could transfer to government run Elementary programs if

they have the opportunity. Also, graduates of these programs, if they meet

minimum standards should be allowed to enroll in Primary or Community

school programs if the opportunity becomes available.

3. Government agencies, whether Local Level Governments (LLGs), Division

of Education or some other government agency, work with churches,

missions, and other NGOs to start, encourage and help with literacy

programs where the needs are not being met by the formal education

system.

4. Literacy programs to develop an adequate supply of materials to enable

the school to effectively train the learners in reading, writing, numeracy,

expressing themselves orally and learning about their local culture.

5. Encourage the development of TPS programs so that every child will have

an Elementary school or TPS program within one half hour or less travel

time of their home. If there are safety hazards, such as big rivers or rough

seas, the schools may need to be even closer to the children.

6. Facilitate the development of vocational and functional literacy programs

to help out-of-school youth and adults learn vocational type skills as well

as print literacy. Examples of these skills would include such things as

(Draft) National Literacy Plan 4

cooking, sewing, health and family planning, basic book keeping,

improving agricultural methods, how to run meat raising projects, running

a business, basic mechanical maintenance and carpentry skills.

7. At the National level, the National Literacy and Awareness Secretariat

(NLAS) will continue to develop manuals and prototype (shell) books that

can be adapted into local languages for use in TPS, out-of-school youth and

adult print literacy programs.

V Strategies (for accomplishing the objectives of the program)

Strategy one - Research

Maximum use must be made of the research that has been carried out. The

recommendations from research findings must be used to shape literacy

strategies. On-going research needs to be carried out to develop and maintain

an accurate picture of what literacy activities are being carried out at the

national, provincial, district and local levels. Find out which communities

already have satisfactory and effective print literacy programs. Find out what

other communities are ready and willing to support such programs. The

following information is needed.

1. At the national level, there is a need to determine:

1.1 Approximately how many children between the ages of 6 and 15 years

are being missed by:

1.1.1 The formal system; and

1.1.2 Non-formal literacy classes.

1.2 Which communities, due to small size or remoteness, may never be

able to support a formal school program.

1.3 What literacy programs (adult, out of-school youth or TPS) are

presently operating.

1.3.1 What have the programs done to meet the education needs of

their community?

1.3.2 What are the programs doing to meet the education needs of

their community?

1.3.3 What do these programs plan to do to meet the education needs

of their community?

1.4 What vocational and functional type subjects do learners, especially

out of school youth and adults, want to learn about? Such subjects as

sewing, engine repair (car, motorcycle, boats), preparing water

systems and using a bank might be included. Many other subjects

could be included where there is interest and someone to teach them.

1.5 What can be done at the national level to meet the education needs of

print illiterate people, regardless of the age of the learner or the size or

remoteness of the community?

2. At the provincial level there is a need to:

2.1 Determine the literacy rate and needs of their communities;

Papua New Guinea 5 (Draft) National Literacy Plan

2.2 Develop a clear picture of the language situation in the province. This

includes knowing:

2.2.1 What languages are spoken in the province;

2.2.2 Which languages have satisfactory orthographies (written

alphabets) that can be used for developing literacy materials;

and

2.2.3 If there are dialects within some language groups that will need

a different orthography and different written materials from the

rest of the group.

2.3 Find out what resources are available in their province. These

resources include learning:

2.3.1 What church, mission or other NGO groups or individuals are

available that could help establish and carry out print literacy

programs;

2.3.2 What financial resources are available or could be made

available for literacy work;

2.3.3 What venues can be used for training;

2.3.4 Who are available to serve as trainers;

3. At the district level there is a need to find out:

3.1 Which communities want to start a literacy program;

3.2 Which communities are ready to support a literacy program;

3.3 What churches, missions or other NGO groups or individuals are

available that could and would help establish and carry out literacy

programs;

3.4 What financial resources are available or could be made available to

support literacy programs;

3.5 What venues are available that could be used for training;

3.6 Who are available to serve as trainers;

4. At the community level there is a need to:

4.1 Learn what the wishes of the community are for literacy classes.

4.1.1 What goals does the community have?

4.1.2 What problems do they face reaching those goals?

4.1.3 How do they hope to overcome the problems they face?

4.2 Determine what resources are available in the community.

4.2.1 Are there enough students to maintain a TPS, out-of-school

youth and/or adult literacy program?

4.2.2 Are there people who could be trained as teachers? If so, are

they willing to serve as literacy teachers?

4.2.3 Are there any written material available in the language?

4.2.4 Is there a building that could be used for classes or is the

community willing to build a suitable place for literacy classes?

(Draft) National Literacy Plan 6

5. Is the community willing to establish and operate a committee to look

after matters relating to the school? This could include:

5.1 Ensuring that a satisfactory school building is available and properly

maintained;

5.2 Ensuring that teachers are appointed, trained, have their needs met,

disciplined if needed and are conducting classes;

5.3 Ensuring that the school runs properly. The Committee, not the

teacher, should attend to problems that arise at school; and

5.4 Find ways to provide the money needed to operate the school.

Strategy two - Awareness

Adequate awareness must be carried out at the national, provincial, district

and local levels before any program is implemented. Awareness is needed so

that:

1. People understand how literacy can help them in their daily lives;

2. People understand that it is better to start literacy in a language the

learners understand. This helps with:

2.1 Language and culture maintenance; and

2.2 Ensuring that learners are going from what they know (their own

language) to what they do not know (how to read and write);

3. Everyone understands that all learners should have the opportunity to

learn to read and write in a language they understand;

4. People understand that there needs to be schools close enough together so

that learners, especially young children, can safely attend literacy classes

without having to travel long and/or unsafe distances;

5. People understand that starting a TPS is good preparation for Elementary

while waiting for Elementary to be implemented in their area;

6. People know:

6.1 There is a National Literacy and Awareness Council (NLAC);

6.2 Who their representative on the Council is;

6.3 How the Council can help them;

6.4 There is a National Literacy and Awareness Secretariat (NLAS); and

6.5 How NLAS can help them.

7. Churches, missions and other NGOs that are already active in literacy

activities and others who are just getting started should work together to

help each other;

8. All churches, missions and other NGOs that are implementing literacy

know what national level programs are available that can help them. This

includes such areas as help with training, finances and materials ;

9. Provincial Literacy Coordinators (PLCs) have good information about who

is doing what in print literacy in their province;

10. Literacy implementers know about the Provincial (Literacy and

Awareness Materials Production (LAMP) Centres and how the LAMP

Centres should be able to help them; and

Papua New Guinea 7 (Draft) National Literacy Plan

11. Literacy implementers know whom the provincial and national level

people are they should contact for help in starting and conducting literacy

programs.

Action Plan:

1. Provincial Literacy Coordinators often have little or no budget and

transport is a problem. They should collect and write up all information

that they can collect from literacy workers as they come into the office.

This can be done without any additional resources.

2. All literacy implementers should give periodic reports - at least once each

year - to the PLC and the NLAS. This includes at least the information

requested for the NLAS database.

3. PLC and NLAS Officers need to visit literacy programs to collect and

confirm the information they receive about literacy projects.

4. NLAC Regional Representatives should visit provinces and programs in

their region at least annually to have up-to-date information for the NLAC

and to encourage and help the provinces and local programs.

5. National and Provincial level offices should make use of the media such as

radio, daily or weekly newspapers, provincial newsletters and such NLAS

publications as Ritim na Save to give out information and provide literacy

implementers the information they need.

6. NLAS and the Provinces should develop and maintain a database of

information about literacy programs so that they know their needs and

also to make possible the fair distribution of resources that become

available.

7. NLAS and PLCs should use letters, phone calls, faxes and the radio to

inform literacy implementers of changes the implementers need to know

about.

8. Meetings such as networking workshops, Regional NLAC workshops and

PLC workshops need to be held annually to facilitate sharing of

information between government officers and literacy implementers.

9. Make use of other national mailings such as Pipeline and OLA News

(Office of Library and Archives) to give out information.

10. Use National Literacy Week to promote literacy and awareness and

inform the public of what literacy activities are going on, what the

advantages of literacy programs are and what literacy needs are.

11. Invite PLCs and Provincial and Local Level Government (LLG) Members

to opening and closing activities and other special events involving literacy

programs. This includes such things as organising “Literacy Big Days” and

National Literacy Week activities.

12. PLCs should organise a meeting at least once per year and invite all

literacy implementers to attend. At this meeting there can be open

discussion of how to improve literacy, what the needs are, what resources

are available and the implementers could supply needed information

about their programs to the PLCs at this meeting.

13. Training workshops should be held in different parts of the province and

ask different churches, missions and other NGOs to be involved in

(Draft) National Literacy Plan 8

planning and carrying out the workshops. This is an excellent awareness

technique.

14. Both Government officers and literacy implementers should respond

promptly to requests for information or help from the other.

Strategy three - Resource Development

All programs require resources. Where do you locate and how do you get the

resources needed to carry out a successful literacy program? Resources needed

include people, literacy materials, and buildings for safe storage of materials,

offices and classrooms. Basic equipment like chalkboards is also needed.

There is also a need for at least some money. Other resources, not as easy to

see but still very much needed, include cooperation, creative ideas, the use of

the local language and local stories and ideas and culture.

1. Any successful literacy program must have people. People are needed as

students, teachers and committee members. People are also needed to

conduct awareness campaigns, prepare literacy materials, plan the

literacy program and keep the program going by locating and managing

money and taking care of the daily needs of the program.

1.1 People needed at the national level include:

1.1.1 Someone to provide oversight for the literacy effort in the

nation. This person is the Director of the NLAS.

1.1.2 Someone to oversee and coordinate the materials needs of

literacy programs. This person is the NLAS materials officer.

1.1.3 Someone to provide oversight, coordination and help as needed

for training literacy teachers and trainers, materials developers

and supervisors. This person is the NLAS Training Officer.

1.1.4 Someone to locate financial resources and give literacy projects

guidance in applying for help. When there is money to distribute

this officer must distribute it fairly and keep records of the

distribution and acquittal of financial resources. This person is

the NLAS Literacy Projects Manager.

1.1.5 Someone to develop and maintain a current database of literacy

information about enrolment of students, teachers and trainers

for the needs of literacy. This is the NLAS Research Officer and

the NLAS Administrative Officer.

1.1.6 Someone to take the lead in developing and promoting

awareness information about literacy. This person is the NLAS

Awareness Officer.

1.2 At the provincial level there is a need for:

1.2.1 Someone to be responsible for coordinating and overseeing the

literacy program for the province. This is usually the Provincial

Literacy Coordinator (PLC) or a similar term such as Provincial

Non Formal Education Officer (PNFEO).

1.2.1(a) The PLC needs to visit the district coordinators, if the

province has them, to encourage and help them and

know of their needs.

Papua New Guinea 9 (Draft) National Literacy Plan

1.2.1(b) The PLC needs to visit individual literacy programs to

know first hand what is happening in the schools.

1.2.2 Someone to help produce literacy materials. The community

must produce and/or adapt literacy materials in the language

being used for literacy classes. The Provincial LAMP Centre

should be able to help reproduce the materials.

1.3 If the province has district level staff, there needs to be a District

Trainer / Coordinator. The District Trainer / Coordinator needs to:

1.3.1 Help with pre-service and in-service training of teachers;

1.3.2 Train materials developers and help prepare literacy and

awareness materials; and

1.3.3 Visit the schools to provide guidance and encouragement at the

school level.

1.4 At the language group or community level there needs to be:

1.4.1 Supervisor(s);

1.4.2 Teachers;

1.4.3 Materials developers;

1.4.4 School committee members; and

1.4.5 Community members involved in building and maintaining the

school building.

2. A successful literacy program must have adequate materials. As programs

grow they need large quantities of different kinds of materials. If people

are going to stay literate they need good quality materials, which can be

reproduced in the LAMP Centres or locally. There are two main sources of

materials:

2.1 Those produced in the local area; and

2.2 Those produced outside the language area and adapted to the

language of instruction of the school.

2.2.1 At the national level:

2.2.1(a) Literacy materials are prepared in writers’ workshops;

2.2.1(b) Materials are shared by literacy projects from around

the nation and other sources of materials;

2.2.1(c) Most elementary prep materials can and should be used

by TPS programs and TPS programs should share their

materials with Elementary;

2.2.1(d) Most materials produced at the national level need to

be adapted to the local languages;

2.2.1(e) Pictures may also need to be altered to be appropriate

for local use.

2..2.2 At the provincial level all provinces were provided the basic

equipment for a LAMP Centre.

2.2.2(a) Shell books need to be stored at the LAMP Centres both

in printed form and on computer disks.

(Draft) National Literacy Plan 10

2.2.2(b) At the LAMP Centre books that are needed in

sufficiently large quantities can be printed on the

digital duplicator.

2.2.2(c) Stencils can be cut here for printing on silkscreen

printers or other hand operated duplicating equipment.

2.2.2(d) All literacy projects must have access to the services of

the LAMP Centres if they need it.

2.2.2(e) LAMP Centre operators must be adequately trained to

carry out their duties.

2.2.2(f) Provincial budgets must include the needed resources

to employ LAMP Centre operators and purchase

consumable materials like ink, master roll and paper.

2.2.2(g) The LAMP Centre must have an adequate work place

to protect the equipment, provide storage and have

workspace to prepare literacy materials.

2.2.2(h) The provincial budget must include resources to

maintain and replace the LAMP equipment as it

becomes unserviceable.

2.3 At the District level there needs to be literacy materials production

workshops to produce original materials and also adapt shell books for

use by literacy classes. This work can and should be done together

with elementary materials preparation. This will require:

2.3.1 Training local writers, literacy teachers and elementary

teachers to prepare materials in the local language and use local

pictures.

2.3.2 Being able to purchase the needed materials such as silkscreen

printers, paper, ink, stencils and other production materials.

2.4 At the community or local language project level there must be:

2.4.1 Books and posters to use for teaching. Some of these may be

produced within the language group and some produced at the

district level but in the local language in which the classes are

conducted;

2.4.2 Chalk and chalkboards for teachers and slates for the children;

2.4.3 Paper and pencils for the students; and

2.4.4 An adequate meeting place to conduct literacy classes.

3. A successful literacy program must have buildings for office space, space to

prepare materials and space to conduct classes.

3.1 At the national level this includes office space for the NLAS staff as

well as working space for materials development and storage place for

materials.

3.2 At the provincial level this includes office space for the Provincial

Literacy Coordinator and for the LAMP Centre operations. There will

also need to be space for provincial level workshops from time to time.

Papua New Guinea 11 (Draft) National Literacy Plan

3.3 At the district level, office and materials storage space for the district

coordinator is needed. Also, there must be a place where teacher

training and materials development workshops can be held.

3.4 At the local level there must be an adequate place where literacy

classes can be conducted. This may be a building that is already there

such as a church, community centre or community school classroom.

Usually it will be highly desirable for the community to construct a

building, which contains classrooms, an office and a materials storage

area. The classroom can also serve as the venue for life skills training

such as sewing, the meeting place for local level training of teachers

and for producing local materials.

4. A successful literacy program needs some financial resources. This is for

administrative costs, materials development, training of teachers and

other workers, paying allowances or other kinds of compensation for work

done and for meeting other costs of the literacy program.

4.1 At the national level, financial resources are needed for:

4.1.1 Administrative costs such as office operation expenses;

4.1.2 Printing costs;

4.1.3 Salaries and allowances;

4.1.4 Travel costs; and

4.1.5 Conducting national and regional level administrative,

networking, and materials development workshops for

government officers and NGOs.

4.2 At the provincial level, financial resources are needed for:

4.2.1 Administrative costs such as office operation expenses;

4.2.2 Printing costs, especially the LAMP Centre;

4.2.3 Salaries and allowances;

4.2.4 Travel costs; and

4.2.5 Conducting regional and district level administrative,

networking, and materials development workshops for

government officers and NGOs.

4.3 At the district level, financial resources are needed for:

4.3.1 Administrative costs such as office operation expenses;

4.3.2 Printing costs;

4.3.3 Salaries and allowances;

4.3.4 Travel costs; and

4.3.5 Conducting district and local level administrative, networking,

and materials development workshops for literacy

implementers.

4.4 At the local level, financial resources are needed for:

4.4.1 Administrative costs such as preparing and sending reports and

requests for help with training or materials;

(Draft) National Literacy Plan 12

4.4.2 Printing costs such as writers’ workshops to develop materials,

paper, ink and stencils plus the costs related to printing at the

provincial LAMP Centre;

4.4.3 Salaries or allowances for supervisors, teachers and trainers;

4.4.4 Travel costs for supervisors to visit schools and workers to

attend training, administrative and materials development

workshops; and

4.4.5 Conducting local level pre or in-service training for teachers and

materials development workshops for the schools.

Action plan:

5. Identify possible sources of funding.

5.1 At the national level the resources may come from:

5.1.1 The Department of Education recurrent budget; and

5.1.2 Businesses, natural resource developers like mines, timber

companies and oil developers that will support special activities

or fund certain areas such as equipment; and

5.1.3 Overseas donor agencies such as UNICEF and AusAID.

5.2 At the provincial level the resources may come from:

5.2.1 Provincial recurrent budget; and

5.2.2 Agencies such as Save the Children or World Vision might be

possible sources of help.

5.3 At the district level the resources may come from:

5.3.1 Local Level Government;

5.3.2 Some districts have mining, oil development, timber, oil palm or

such localised development agencies that will be of help; and

5.3.3 Sometimes church agencies like the Adventist Development

Relief Agency (ADRA) program may be of help.

5.4 At the local level the resources may come from:

5.4.1 School fees;

5.4.2 Fund raising activities like selling second hand clothing or

garden crops;

5.4.3 On-going business ventures like a local bakery; or

5.4.4 Local Ward or Local Level Government.

6. It is of utmost importance that any financial help from whatever source be

properly acquitted.

6.1 Be sure that you get and keep the receipt from all money that is paid

out.

6.2 You must keep good records of what the money was used for and keep

all receipts.

6.3 Prepare and turn in the needed acquittal in a timely manner.

NOTE: Each local literacy project should develop a list of possible sources of

financial help. It is important to keep in mind that most of the

Papua New Guinea 13 (Draft) National Literacy Plan

funding, sometimes including recurrent government funding, is very

unpredictable. It is usually available for certain projects for a certain

period of time. Then the aid is finished. Literacy projects that depend

on this type of funding may face great problems in sustaining what

has been started.

Strategy four - Recruitment and Training

Every literacy program must have people. People must be recruited and

trained to serve in all the many jobs that must be done in order for a literacy

program to function well and be on-going. In addition to students, people are

needed for administrators, trainers, materials developers, and teachers. As

people are recruited and trained, there needs to be an understanding of what

responsibilities they have. This should be set out in a job description.

At the national level there is a need for administrators and trainers. These

people must know their responsibilities and be trained in how to carry them

out. The oversight of the literacy program at the national level is the

responsibility of the National Literacy and Awareness Secretariat, under the

guidance of the National Literacy and Awareness Council.

1. At the national level there is a need for:

1.1 Administrators:

1.1.1 NLAS Director - have general oversight and give direction to the

nationwide literacy efforts;

1.1.2 Literacy Projects Manager - seek the needed funding and acquit

it to the providers;

1.1.3 Materials Officer - gather materials from whatever source

possible and work with the Provincial Literacy Coordinator and

literacy implementers and the provincial LAMP Centres to

distribute needed materials;

1.1.4 Training Officer - coordinate training and assist with training

where required. Also, the Training Officer should prepare

training aids as needed;

1.1.5 Research Officer - ensure that literacy efforts are evaluated

through on-going research and see that the national literacy

database is further developed and kept up to date and

distributed to the respective provinces annually;

1.1.6 Awareness Officer - take the lead in promoting literacy and

explaining the advantages of being literate. This officer also has

primary responsibility for taking the lead in National Literacy

Week and preparing reports and newsletters put out by NLAS;

and

1.1.7 Administrative Officer - ensure the proper filing of NLAS

documents, the timely distribution of NLAS publications and

reports, assist the Projects Manager in preparing for major

workshops and meetings and assist the Research Officer with

the timely recording of database information from the field.

NB: There is a more complete job description on file for each of the NLAS

officers.

(Draft) National Literacy Plan 14

1.2 Trainers:

1.2.1 The Training Officer of the NLAS is both a trainer and an

administrator.

1.2.2 National level NGOs, whether international NGOs like YWCA

or SIL or Papua New Guinea NGOs need to have trainers who

can carry out training anywhere in the nation or even

internationally.

1.3 There is a need to develop people who can represent the nation at

national or international meetings and workshops. Provincial, district

and language group level officers should have opportunity to attend

these meetings to develop capacity among a wide range of officers, not

just a few at the highest levels of government employment.

2. At the provincial level there is a need for:

2.1 An administrator to:

2.1.1 Have oversight of literacy programs in the province. This is

usually the Provincial Literacy Coordinator (PLC) or Provincial

Non Formal Education Officer (PNFEO);

2.1.2 The PLC or PNFEO should be a person with literacy experience

and who has a heart for non-formal literacy;

2.1.3 The PLC/PNFEO should be an administrator and also a literacy

trainer;

2.1.4 Promote literacy in the province;

2.1.5 Encourage, support and coordinate teacher training and

materials production in the province;

2.1.6 Seek provincial financial support for literacy projects; and

2.1.7 Send reports to the NLAS at least once per year. The report

should include:

2.1.7(a) Information needed for the national database;

2.1.7(b) What materials have been developed and are in use;

2.1.7(c) How many new teachers have been trained; and

2.1.7(d) Progress report for literacy activities in the province.

2.2 Work with NGO trainers in the province to ensure that needed

training is carried out; and

2.3 Help literacy programs secure the needed funding and acquit the

funds received.

3. If a province has a district level literacy officer, this needs to be an

administrator/trainer:

3.1 An administrator/trainer needs to:

3.1.1 Visit each literacy project in the district at least once each

month;

Papua New Guinea 15 (Draft) National Literacy Plan

3.1.2 Conduct training courses for new teachers as needed;

3.1.3 Conduct short in-service courses for teachers. This could be once

each term;

3.1.4 Conduct materials preparation workshops;

3.1.5 Send reports twice each year to the provincial coordinator. This

should include:

3.1.5(a) Enrolment figures;

3.1.5(b) Training conducted;

3.1.5(c) Progress report for the literacy programs; and

3.1.5(d) The needs of the literacy programs.

3.2 The administrator/trainer should work in cooperation with church,

mission and other NGO trainers to carry out the needed literacy

training; and

3.3 The administrator/trainer needs to keep in close communication with

the LLG in order to have the needed support from them.

4. At the community or language group level there is a need to recruit and

train people to operate the schools. This includes:

4.1 School committee members:

4.1.1 One committee oversees the entire literacy program in most

language groups; and

4.1.2 Each community or literacy class should have its own

committee.

4.2 Supervisors - for very small programs there may be no need for a

separate supervisor. For large programs there may need to be more

than one supervisor;

4.3 Teachers; and

4.4 Materials preparation people.

Strategy Five - Materials Development and Production

A successful literacy program needs lots of literacy materials. There are two

main sources of materials: those produced by the local literacy projects; and

those brought in from outside the local literacy project. The Materials Officer

of the National Literacy and Awareness Secretariat has overall responsibility

for literacy materials.

1. The role of the national level in developing and producing literacy

materials includes:

1.1 Facilitating materials production workshops to:

1.1.1 Train writers; and

1.1.2 Produce materials that can be prepared as shell books.

1.2 Collecting, printing and distributing literacy materials to add to the

locally produced materials. These materials usually need to be

adapted into the language of instruction of the schools.

(Draft) National Literacy Plan 16

1.3 Distribute shell books to:

1.3.1 The PLC or PNFEO and/or provincial LAMP Centres; and

1.3.2 Local literacy implementers.

1.4 The NLAS Materials Officer annually distributing an updated list of

all materials that are available as shell books;

1.5 Encouraging writers’ workshops at the district or local language level

to prepare materials specific to that area;

1.6 Encouraging the use of traditional stories, Bible stories and songs.

This is especially important for culture promotion and maintenance

and spiritual growth; and

1.7 Look for channels such as school inspectors or health workers to

distribute materials.

2. The role of the provincial level in developing and producing literacy

materials includes:

2.1 The provincial LAMP Centre developing and maintaining a stock of

literacy materials that are available to all literacy programs in the

province;

2.2 The PLC must do all she/he can to promote the development and

production of useful literacy materials. This includes:

2.2.1 Encouraging local language group programs to:

2.2.1(a) Develop good materials;

2.2.1(b) Share their materials with other classes in the

language group;

2.2.1(c) Translate/adapt their literacy materials into a

language of wider communication; and

2.2.1(d) Share their materials with other literacy programs,

including Elementary programs.

2.2.2 Looking for funds to develop and print literacy materials;

2.2.3 Encouraging the development of literacy materials using

economical measures such as re-using old computer paper,

brown wrapping paper such as sugar bags and cardboard box

sides to print books;

2.2.4 Encouraging literacy programs to adapt shell books to the local

language when that is needed;

2.2.5 Building cooperation with elementary prep programs to share

materials since TPS and elementary prep uses much of the same

materials; and

2.2.6 Encouraging the involvement of adults, school leavers and

students on break from school to write stories and prepare

pictures for literacy materials.

2.3 Look for reliable and economical means such as school inspectors,

health workers or local mission or church agencies to distribute

materials; and

Papua New Guinea 17 (Draft) National Literacy Plan

2.4 Encourage elementary and TPS programs to work together in

developing materials since TPS and elementary prep use much of the

same materials.

3. The role of the district level in developing and producing literacy materials

includes:

3.1 Organising materials development workshops. This includes:

3.1.1 Locating the needed funds; the local Ward or LLG should

support this activity.

3.1.2 Locating a venue and arranging food, transport, materials and

such for the workshop;

3.1.3 Inviting writers and artists to prepare original materials;

3.1.4 Organising workshops to adapt shell books into the local

languages. This may be materials such as “Our Literacy Kit” or

other shell type books from the LAMP Centre; and

3.1.5 Preparing literacy materials using economical measures such as

re-using old computer paper, brown wrapping paper such as

sugar bags and cardboard box sides to print books or serve as

book covers.

3.2 Developing lists of people who are willing to serve as writers and

artists to prepare materials;

3.3 Locating and collecting materials like used paper and cardboard boxes

then giving it to the schools that need it;

3.4 Keeping a stock of materials for writers’ workshops such as silkscreen

printers, ink, stencils, paper and such;

3.5 Developing reliable and economical contacts such as school inspectors,

health workers and local church or mission workers to deliver

materials to schools during their travels;

3.6 Collecting, where possible, off-cuts of paper and wood for making

slates, alphabet cards, book covers and such; and

3.7 Seeking to work with any Elementary classes in the area in developing

materials since TPS and elementary prep use much of the same

materials.

4. The role of the language group or local level in developing and producing

literacy materials includes:

4.1 Encouraging people in the local communities to write stories, dramas,

posters and such. This includes older men and women who may be

print illiterate but can tell traditional stories and young people who

are literate can write the stories as they hear them;

4.2 Looking for and enlisting the help of local artists to prepare culturally

appropriate pictures for literacy materials;

4.3 Inviting older men and women to come into the classroom and orally

share stories and show how to make traditional items like bilums or

traditional axes. The class can then work together to write a story

about what they have seen and heard;

(Draft) National Literacy Plan 18

4.4 Collecting materials like brown paper and cardboard boxes and other

re-useable paper for use in the classroom;

4.5 Working with the local community school and the local Ward or LLG

to get help with items like chalk, exercise books and pencils; and

4.6 Sharing with any near-by Elementary schools in the development of

TPS materials since TPS and elementary prep use much of the same

materials.

Strategy six - Evaluation

Before an effective evaluation can be carried out there must be a plan that is

being followed. If there is no plan, it is very difficult to know what to evaluate.

Evaluation involves:

• Planning a course of action;

• Implementing that course of action;

• Checking to see if corrections are needed in the plan of action or in the

carrying out of the plan of action; and

• Developing a new plan of action .

1. At the national level, evaluation includes:

1.1 Carrying out research to learn which literacy programs are

functioning;

1.2 Determining which provinces or programs are functioning well and

which ones need to be improved.

1.3 Determining:

1.3.1 What kind of literacy training is being carried out;

1.3.2 Which training is effective and which needs to be improved; and

1.3.3 If it needs to be improved what are the areas that need

improving?

1.4 Do programs have adequate materials? If not, what needs to be done

to improve the situation;

1.5 What other problems are literacy programs facing that hinder their

effectiveness;

1.6 Determining whether the PLCs are effectively helping the literacy

programs;

1.6.1 If not, help them determine what changes are needed; and

1.6.2 Encourage and help the needed changes to be made.

1.7 Determining whether TPS programs and elementary programs are

helping each other;

1.7.1 If not, why not; and

1.7.2 Determining actions need to be taken to improve this and help

facilitate those actions.

1.8 Determining whether the main literacy implementing churches,

missions and other NGOs are working together and what needs to be

done to help them further build cooperation.

Papua New Guinea 19 (Draft) National Literacy Plan

2. At the provincial level, evaluation includes:

2.1 Carrying out research to learn which literacy programs are

functioning;

2.2 Determining which districts and / or programs are functioning well

and which ones need to be improved.

2.3 Determining what kind of literacy training is being carried out;

2.3.1 Which training is effective and which needs to be improved; and

2.3.2 If it needs to be improved what are the areas that need changing

and determining how those changes can be effected.

2.4 Finding out if programs have adequate materials? If not, what needs

to be done to improve the situation;

2.5 Finding out what other problems literacy programs are facing that

hinder their effectiveness;

2.6 Finding out if the District Coordinators, if the province has them, are

effectively helping the literacy programs;

2.6.1 If District Coordinators are not effective, determine what

changes are needed; and

2.6.2 Determine how to encourage and help bring about the needed

changes.

2.7 Finding out whether TPS and elementary programs are helping each

other. Determine what needs to be done to facilitate cooperation

between the two groups.

2.8 Learning whether the churches, missions and other NGOs who are

implementing literacy are working with each other and the

responsible government division. If not, determine what needs to be

done to build cooperation.

3. At the district level, evaluation includes determining:

3.1 Which programs are functioning well and which ones need to be

improved.:

3.2 Whether there are areas where there are not yet any Elementary

schools and a TPS is needed. Determine how the District Literacy

Coordinator can encourage the community to start a TPS program.

3.3 What kind of literacy training is being carried out:

3.3.1 Which training is effective and which needs to be improved;

3.3.2 How needed improvements can be brought about.

3.4 Whether programs have adequate materials. If not, find out what

needs to be done to improve the situation;

3.5 What other problems literacy programs are facing that hinder their

effectiveness;

3.6 Whether the supervisors, teachers and school committees are working

effectively in the literacy programs;

3.6.1 What changes are needed for the programs to be more effective;

3.6.2 How needed changes can be brought about.

(Draft) National Literacy Plan 20

3.7 Whether TPS and elementary programs are helping each other;

3.7.1 What are the reasons, if they are not working together; and

3.7.2 What should be done to improve the working relationship.

3.8 Whether the churches, missions and other NGOs who are

implementing literacy programs are working together. If they are not,

what needs to be done to build this cooperation?

4. At the local level, evaluation includes determining:

4.1 How well the literacy programs are functioning;

4.1.1 Is the teacher coming to class regularly and on time?

4.1.2 Are the students:

4.1.2(a) Attending class regularly?

4.1.2(b) Learning what is being taught?

4.1.2(c) Learning actively instead of passively; that is, are they

involved in activities or just sitting down listening to

the teacher?

4.1.3 Is the community supporting the school by:

4.1.3(a) Providing a suitable classroom and keeping it

maintained and clean?

4.1.3(b) Are the needs of the teacher being met?

4.1.4 Does the school have adequate amounts of culturally

appropriate and interesting materials?

4.1.4(a) Are the pictures appropriate?

4.1.4(b) Are the themes appropriate and is the teacher using

them effectively?

4.1.4(c) Are the stories too long or too difficult?

4.1.5 Is the teacher adequately trained? What areas need

improvement?

4.1.6 Is the teacher receiving any kind of regular in-service training

and encouragement?

4.1.7 Are there other problems facing the literacy programs that

hinder their effectiveness? Help the community find solutions to

those problems.

4.2 Is the school receiving the support and encouragement it need from:

4.2.1 The local community?

4.2.2 The local Ward or LLG?

4.2.3 The district, provincial and national literacy officers?

4.3 If there are elementary schools nearby, are they working together with

local TPS programs? If not, what needs to be done to build

cooperation?

4.4 If there is a local community school, is it working together with the

literacy programs? If not, what needs to be done to build cooperation?

Papua New Guinea 21 (Draft) National Literacy Plan

4.5 If there is more than one church, mission or other NGO group working

in the language area are they working together? If not, what needs to

be done to build cooperation?

Action plan: Forms need to be prepared to assist at the various levels in

carrying out the evaluations. The manual Planning for Literacy in Papua New

Guinea has some forms that may be helpful.

Strategy seven - Program coordination and supervision

All programs need coordination and supervision. Coordinators and

supervisors need a job description so they understand what their

responsibilities are. The job descriptions need to be continually updated to

meet changing conditions and reflect changes that are expected of the

coordinators and supervisors.

At the national level, the National Literacy and Awareness Secretariat, under

the direction of the National Literacy and Awareness Council, provides some

coordination and supervision for literacy and awareness efforts in the nation.

All churches, missions and other NGOs that are implementing literacy

programs at all levels are free to communicate directly with the NLAS or

NLAC. The channel of communication for requests for financial help or

training assistance should be through the provincial level, not directly to the

national level. All questions and concerns, whether related to money or not,

should be handled through existing channels. This means discussing problems

with the local supervisor first then the district level then the provincial level

then the national level.

1. Responsibilities for coordination and supervision at the national level

include:

1.1 The appropriate officer from the NLAS communicating with provincial

and district officers and churches, missions and other NGOs and,

when needed, directly with local programs.

1.1.1 Financial matters should be directed to the Director and the

Literacy Projects Manager through the appropriate district and

provincial officer.

1.1.2 Materials related matters should be directed to the Director and

the Materials Officer. This may go through the district and/or

provincial officer or directly to NLAS.

1.1.3 Training related questions should be directed to the Director

and the Training Officer. These may come through the district

and provincial level officers or directly to NLAS. Requests for

help with training should be handled at the local, district or

provincial level if at all possible before being directed to the

national level.

1.1.4 Database information should be shared with the district and

provincial level officers as well as the national level. This

information should be sent to the Director and the Research

Officer.

1.1.5 Matters dealing with awareness such as National Literacy Week

or other special awareness campaigns should be sent to the

Director and the Awareness Officer.

(Draft) National Literacy Plan 22

1.1.6 All other matters should be directed to the Director of NLAS. He

will handle them or channel them to the proper officer.

1.2 The NLAS needs to convene annual meetings with the churches,

missions and other NGOs who are involved in implementing literacy

and awareness. This is for the purpose of encouraging each other,

sharing ideas, learning of problems and looking for solutions to the

problems.

1.3 The NLAS needs to convene annual meetings for PLCs to share ideas

and discuss concerns and make recommendations concerning literacy

and awareness for the nation.

1.4 NLAS officers, in cooperation with NLAC representatives, need to visit

provinces and local literacy projects. All provinces need to be visited

annually if possible.

1.5 NLAS officers need to continue to work with national level elementary

officers to promote cooperation between TPS and elementary

programs. The main purposes of this are to facilitate ease of changing

TPS programs to Elementary programs and to make it possible for

TPS students to move into Elementary programs when this is possible

or allow TPS students to go into Primary schools following completion

of TPS when they meet minimum standards set by the Primary school.

2. Responsibilities for coordination and supervision at the provincial level

include:

2.1 Maintaining communication with the national level offices and also

with district level offices and local literacy programs.

2.2 Building relationships and communications with all the literacy-

implementing churches, missions, and other NGOs and whoever else

may be involved in implementing literacy in their provinces.

2.3 Working with the elementary coordinator and trainers to promote

cooperation between TPS and elementary to facilitate ease of changing

TPS programs to Elementary programs and moving students from

TPS to Elementary programs or TPS graduates going on to Primary

schools if they meet the Primary school's standards.

2.4 Coordinating teacher training and materials production workshops so

as to make the best use of any workshops that are being conducted.

2.5 Ensuring that the provincial LAMP Centre is able to operate and

serves all literacy and awareness needs in the province.

2.6 Encouraging teamwork among all the churches, missions and other

NGOs who are implementing literacy in the province.

2.7 Checking all reports or funding requests or database information or

other communications that come to the office and, if needed, quickly

forwarding it on to whoever should receive it.

2.8 Distribute literacy materials or other means of help to the literacy

programs in a fair manner.

2.9 Visit district officers and literacy programs to learn first hand how

well the programs are operating and what the problems are.

3. Responsibilities for coordination and supervision at district level include:

Papua New Guinea 23 (Draft) National Literacy Plan

3.1 Maintaining communication with the national and provincial level

offices and with local literacy programs.

3.2 Building relationships and communications with all churches,

missions and other NGOs involved in implementing literacy in their

district.

3.3 Working with the district elementary trainer to promote sharing of

materials and training between TPS and Elementary to facilitate ease

of changing TPS programs to Elementary programs and facilitating

TPS students transferring to Elementary programs if that option

becomes available. Also, help TPS graduates enroll in a Primary

school if one is available and the Primary school's standards are met.

3.4 Work with the PLC to coordinate teacher training and materials

production workshops. This includes workshops in his/her district and

between districts in order to make the best use of any workshops that

are being conducted.

3.5 Inform churches, missions and other NGOs who are implementing

literacy about the provincial LAMP Centre and explain in what areas

the LAMP Centre can help their program.

3.6 Encourage and facilitate teamwork among all literacy implementers in

the district. This may involve periodic district meetings to which all

literacy implementers are invited. If there are district printing

facilities available, all literacy implementers need to know about this.

3.7 Check all reports or funding requests or database information or other

communications that comes to the office and quickly forward them on

to whoever should receive them.

3.8 Help the PLC to fairly distribute literacy materials or other means of

help to the literacy programs in his/her district.

3.9 Visit literacy programs to learn first hand how well the programs are

operating and what the problems are.

4. Responsibilities for coordination and supervision at the language group

level include:

4.1 Supervisors should visit all classes each month if possible to:

4.1.1 Check enrolment - is it enough to justify the school;

4.1.2 Make sure the class has a teacher;

4.1.3 Encourage teachers and find out if classes are running well - not

moving too fast or too slow;

4.1.4 Find out if the school committee is functioning well;

4.1.5 Find out whether the community is supporting the class. Is a

visit from the district or provincial level officer necessary?

4.1.6 Personally test some students to learn if the teaching is

effective;

4.1.7 Make sure schools have adequate materials for all the students:

4.1.7(a) Enough materials for basic instruction of the students;

4.1.7(b) Extra materials to challenge the faster students when

they finish their regular work.

(Draft) National Literacy Plan 24

4.1.8 See what in-service is needed.

4.2 Arrange with the district coordinator for new teacher training

workshops when needed;

4.3 Conduct in-service workshops as needed;

4.4 Arrange with the District Coordinator for materials preparation

workshops as needed;

4.5 Work with any elementary classes in the area to share materials and

training. This also makes changing TPS programs to Elementary

programs easier.

4.6 At least twice per year send progress reports, including enrolment

figures, to the district and provincial coordinators.

This National Literacy Plan is designed to implement the National Literacy

Policy. It is designed to address the needs of TPS, out-of-school youth and

adult programs.

There is no intention that the TPS programs spoken of in this plan should

compete with formal Elementary programs. Rather, as called for in the Policy,

these TPS programs are envisioned as a means whereby the community can

help provide some education to their children when they do not have access to

formal Elementary or community schools.

Similarly, out-of-school youth programs are not envisioned to compete with

primary or community schools or vocational schools that are part of the

formal education system. Rather, they are an effort to meet the needs of

young people who have never been to school or have had to drop out or have

been pushed out before they have developed marketable skills.

District level structures such as a District Literacy Coordinator and District

Literacy Office are addressed. The Policy states that District level structure is

not required by the Policy. However, the district level is addressed in this

plan for those provinces who see a need for district level structures and

establish such structures.

Commonly used abbreviations and acronyms used in plan include:

LAMP Literacy and Awareness Materials Production

LLG Local Level Government

NGOs Non Government Organisations

NLAC National Literacy and Awareness Council

NLAS National Literacy and Awareness Secretariat

OLA Office of Libraries and Archives

PLCs Provincial Literacy Coordinators

PNFEO Provincial Non Formal Education Officer

TPS Tokples Prep Schools

National Literacy and Awareness Secretariat

Papua New Guinea 25 (Draft) National Literacy Plan

Office of Library and Archives Department of Education

PNG Email: [email protected]

Telephone: (675) 3437107

Fax: (675) 325 4251Digice: (675) 71145466

COUNTRY PAPUA NEW GUINEA Name, title and details of lead person WILLIE JONDUO-Director

Over seer of all literacy programmes, both

children and adults not in any formal, out of

school, learning environment

Responsible Unit NATIONAL LITERACY AND AWARENESS

SCRETARIAT(NLAS), Office of Library and

Archives, Department of Education under

the Ministry of Education.

Does a national literacy policy exist? If

so, please provide the most recent policy Yes No

YES PNG has a National Literacy Policy

(copies will be provided)

Is the proposed national literacy action

plan based on an existing plan? If so,

please provide it.

Yes…………………………No

This plan was put together to implement the

National Literacy Policy

Who are the key stakeholders involved/

to be involved in the development and

implementation of the national literacy

action plan?

Churches or faith based organizations,

NGOs, CSOs, CBOs, International agencies

Do you have an existing system for data

collection, processing and analysis for

literacy?

Yes, we collect information from literacy

programmes through a designed template

that are sent to NLAS for storage and simple

use and information sharing for public use.

How are the levels of literacy skills

measured in your country? Literacy levels are measured at programme

levels with students through literacy tests

while literacy surveys are done and on-going

Do you have any policy for literacy

teaching and learning through non-

formal pathways?

PNG has the National Litercay Policy. It is in

process for a review consider and this will be

considered

Do you have a data base for teaching

and learning materials? Yes but a limited resource as sample

materials for literacy programmes to adapt

for their use

What steps do you envisage in your

country to finalize and implement the

action plan?

Review the current National Literacy Policy

and refine the national literacy action plan to

implement the national programme.