Holy Trinity short of teachers despite getting 10 TSC positions

Sixty-one students of Holy Trinity Humanities Academy in Baro, West Coast Vanimo, are sitting their Grade 10 National Examinations for the first time as pioneers.

The new Junior High School was established under the 1-6-6 reform to give West Coast children access to proper education.

However, as these students prepare to move into Grade 11 next year, the school is facing teacher shortage.

Rector Fr. Christopher Etheridge said the school was inspected in 2024 by Senior Secondary Inspector Ben Suming, who recommended it be registered as a Level 9 school to offer Grades 7 to 10 by 2025 and Grades 11 to 12 by 2026 to 2027, with 32 teaching positions.

He said the school was registered as a church agency school in 2024/2025 but only received its school code and 10 TSC positions this year.

"We registered and are recognized as a church agency school. Our registration came in 2024. But only this year did we receive our school code and 10 of the 32 positions requested. We are still struggling to get the other 22 positions," Fr. Etheridge said.

Fr. Etheridge said for the first two years the school survived on borrowed positions, parental project fees and overseas donations, and only started receiving Government Tuition Fee Subsidy (GTFS) in Term 2 this year. Two teachers are still on borrowed positions.

He said the main challenge is not advertising, but having enough positions to recruit.

"It is hard to recruit teachers for Grades 7 to 11 when you only have 10 positions to work with. We had to email, visit Moresby and constantly call officials just to get the 10 we have now," he said.

He acknowledged teachers who took the risk to join the school early, including Mr. Gregory Rere who left St. Ignatius to join them in 2025.

As a Humanities Academy, the school is in need of qualified teachers in English, Literature, History and Arts, including music teachers for its Queen of Paradise Orchestra program.

Fr. Etheridge said all teachers must be TSC registered and said the school has been emailing TSC in Port Moresby weekly for the past two months with no response. He however thanked local inspectors Mr. Waino and Mr. Alieng for their support.

He is appealing for passionate teachers to join the Academy.

"We want teachers who are passionate about teaching, who want to make an impact by teaching the truth and showing love. If you want to teach in an environment rooted in love of God, love of truth and love of teaching, give us a call," he said.

Interested teachers can apply via email at holytrinityschool@ive.org with an interest letter, CV and contact details.