Community establish school in Koroba

A remote community on the edge of Koroba-Lake Kopiago District in Hela province will finally have government-registered teachers next year.

The Kulie Yokana community in Kopiago LLG has been running an unregistered school using Grade 10 and Grade 12 dropouts as volunteer teachers at the school the locals started.

This initiative shows how far the 2, 000 people living in the community are willing to go to get an education for their children.

The school was built entirely through community effort.

With no teachers available, locals engaged dropouts who had the heart and desire to teach 400 plus students from kindergarten to grades 3 and 4. They have been running classes as a community service.

Hela Education Services officials visited the community on Tuesday after locals chartered a MAF flight to bring them in.

The delegation included Senior Inspector, George NGalme, Teacher Appointments Officer, Raphael Pani, and Education Services Deputy Director, Kiru Yawale. They were joined by Christian Apostolic Fellowship Pastor Toliman Siape and Hela PHA representative Nicholas Tumbiago.

Mr. Yawale told the community, “The school will be named Kulieyo Primary School once it is registered. Work on the registration has been done and submitted already to National Department of Education.”

He said the fact that the people established the school and enrolled students in Kindergarten, Grades 3 and 4 shows a strong desire for a formal, registered school with qualified teachers.

“Hela Education Services will ensure the school is properly registered, teachers are posted, and it receives the Tuition Fee Free [TTF] subsidy to support school infrastructure,” Mr. Yawale said.

Mr. Pani confirmed that two teachers will be posted to Kulieyo Primary next year awaiting the full process of registration
“While the registration process is underway, the community will take responsibility for the teacher posted to the community,” he said.

He said that until the school is officially on the system, the community will be responsible for looking after the teachers, as no government support can be provided yet.