Letter to the editor on Outcome Based Education

From BRUCE COPELAND

I write in response to a letter to the editor of The National newspaper of Papua New Guinea (12 August 2010) written by Dianne McManus Head of English at

Port Moresby International School run by the International Education Agency.

 She wrote in support of Outcome Based Education (OBE) stating that she had checked results in a number of local schools to find that the standard of English

is rising. This is good to hear.

 Ms McManus also wrote to explain what OBE is. She explained that it did not involve the mere regurgitation of facts but required students to think, research,

interpret and analyse.

 This is an important direction for education. That is where the validity of what she is saying stops dead. The local schools in Port Moresby would have been those

with middle-class children enrolled.

 Many would have had educated parents who speak English and who have daily access to TV, DVD movies in English, books, newspapers and understanding of

how to succeed.

 They would have educated opinions on many issues and a background knowledge

of the world.

 Ms McManus may well have come to Papua New Guinea direct from a middle-class school somewhere in the developed world. Her skills in teaching are undoubtedly invaluable to pass on to PNG teachers.

 She has to understand that there is another world out there of primary and secondary schools where education is in total poverty. Schools have no electricity which deprives them of TV, computers and photo copy machines.

 Schools have access only to a duplicating machine which severely limits quality and range of material given to students, provided the school has funds for ink and paper.

 Students come from villages where people do not speak English and do nothing to promote educational success of the children. Girls come home from school to work. Boys come home to swim, fish and throw stones. There is no reinforcement of school in the village.

 Teachers have no choice but to conduct classes from the blackboard. Students copy the work into their books. The top percentage of rural children go on to high school.

 It is only fair that they are not discriminated against. So they may go off to high school with the capacity to use 100 English words and to understand 200 more.

 Many can not understand what is spoken in class and written in books. In library lessons they just stare at a page and turn the page if they see a teacher watching.

 They hide their lack of skill by copying what is on the blackboard into their books. Some hide down in the gardens during tests. They are culled at the end of grades 6 and 8. I personally experienced this in three Morobe rural high schools

 In many schools, there is an anti-antellectual culture among students in the middle grades, the more gifted students have to study quietly and not contribute in class for fear of being intimidated by the less clever students. They know they have to shut up and let the teacher do all the talking.

 Thank you to Ms McManus for your input. I sincerely wish you well in your effort to help OBE at least in the middle-class schools of PNG.

 

 

Regards,

 

Bruce Copeland BA BEdSt

 

Community service for teachers, journalists and students

From BRUCE COPELAND

 

Dear friends,

 

It would be useful if Papua New Guinea students and teachers learned the derivation of words based on Latin and Greek roots. Combine these with an understanding of prefixes and suffixes and there is access for all to hundreds of words.

We are long distant members of the Roman Empire that brought Latin to England, France, Italy and Spain. Then Normans came to England and

brought French words based on Latin. So English double-dipped into Latin. Australians brought English to PNG.

Let us explore a selection of Latin roots. We have a new way of looking at English. There are not just thousands of words. There are dozens of word groupings.

It would be good if the roots of words were returned to the class room. Students would enter a new world of language.

 

Ago (actus) – I do.

 

agent, act, actor, react, reagent, agile,

 

Ameas (amat) – Love, happy

 

amorous, amicable, amamas (tok pisin), amour (French) amo (Italian), amiable.

 

Aves –the birds

 

Aviation, aviary,

 

Cado ( cassus) – I fall

 

accident, cadence, cascade, decay, decadent, decadence.

 

Capio (captus) – I take

 

Capture, captive, captivate, escape, captivity

 

Caput – the head.

 

Cap, captain (English), Kapitano (Italian), Kapitain (Spanish)

capital, caption, decapitate, recapitulate.

 

Cedo (cessus)  - I go

 

Proceed, procession, recede, recession, concede, concession

intercede, intercession, cede, cession, precede, precedent.

 

Centum – a hundred

 

Century, cent, centurion,

 

Cor – the heart

 

Cordial, core, Coeur (French), courage, courageous, courtesy,

Sacre Coeur ( French Catholic)  Cor blimey ( English slang)

 

Corpus – the body

 

Corporal, corpse, corpulent, corporation. Corps, Corpus Christi

(Italian)

 

Curro (cursus) – I run

 

Current, incur, incursion, recur, recurrent, course, cursory, cursive

discourse,

 

Decius – ten

 

Decimal, decimate, decade,    

 

Dens (dentis) – a tooth

 

Dentine, dentist, dental, denture, indent, indentation

 

Dico ( dictus) – I say

 

Predict, prediction, indict, indictment, diction, indicate,

indication, dicta-phone, dictionary,

 

Duco (ductus) – I lead

 

Duct, viaduct, oviduct, conduct, conductor, conduction

Duce ( Italian), reduce, reduction, deduce, deduction,

produce, product, production, introduce, introduction.

 

Facio ( factus) – I make

 

Factory, manufacture, facile,  

 

Fero ( latus)  - I bear

 

Refer, transfer, confer, reference, conference, relate,

translate, translation, collate

 

 

Finis – the end

 

Finish, pinis (tok pisin), finite, infinite, final, finality

 

Flecto (flectus) I bend

 

Flexible, inflexible, reflect, reflection, deflect, deflection.

flex, inflexion. reflex

 

Fort (fortus) – strong

 

Fort, fortitude, fortissimo ( Italian),  Codral Forte

 

Frango ( fractus) – I break

 

Fragile, fraction, fracture, fragment

 

Fundo (fundus) – I pour

 

Fund, funnel, profound, refund

 

Ge –the earth

 

Geology, geography, geophysical,

 

Gradior – a slope

 

Grade, gradual, gradient, gradually, degrade,

 

Homeo – the same

 

Homo sapiens, homophobia, homosexual, homogeneous

 

Jacio (jectus) – I throw

 

Inject, injection, project, projection, projector, reject, rejection

eject, ejection, ejaculate, deject, conjecture, interject, interjection,

 

Legis – law

 

Legal, illegal, legislate, legislation, litigation  

 

Lego (lectus) - I gather

 

Lecture, college, religion, lecturn, collect, collection

 

Manus – the hand

 

Manual, manuscript, manage, management

 

Mater – a mother

 

Maternal, matron, ma’am, mama,

 

Pars (partus) – a part

 

Part, particle, particular, partition, participate, apartment, compartment, repartee.

 

Pater – a father

 

Papa, paternal, patron, pastor,

 

Pleo – I fill

 

Complement, implement, implementation, supplement

 

Plico – I fold

 

Application, apply, reply, imply

 

Porto (portus)  - I carry

 

Port, report, transport, transportation, import, importation,

export, exportation, deport, deportation, deportee, important.

 

Premo (pressus) – I press

 

Press, pressure, express, depress, impresario (Italian) supreme,

 

Rex (regis) – a rule

 

Regal, vice-regal,  tyrannosaurus rex

 

Pono (possus)  - I place

 

Postpone, opponent, expose, impose, repose, depose, deposit,

composite, composition,          

 

Scando (scandus) – I climb

 

Ascend, ascent, descend, descend, scandal

 

Secto (cidus)_ - I cut or kill

 

Dissect, dissection, bisect, intersect, intersection, suicide,

genocide, insecticide, spermacide, resection, section, sector,

 

Scribo ( scriptus) – I write

 

Describe, description, inscribe, inscription, conscription, scribe

scripture, scribble, prescribe, prescription,

 

Specio (spectus) I see

 

Special, specialty, inspect, inspection, respect, spectacles, species,

introspect, introspection

 

Tenio (tendus) – I hold

 

Tender, tendon, extend, intend, intention, contend, contention,

pretend, pretension, portend, tension,   

 

Video (vissus) – I see

 

Video player, DVD, vision, visible, invisible,

 

Venio – I come

 

Venture, convene, convention, invent, convent, veni-vidi-vinci

(I came- I saw- I conquered)

 

Verto (versus) – I turn

 

Revert, reverse, inverse, converse, convert, conversion, versus

 

Vinco -_I conquer

 

Convince, vanquish, invincible, HMS Invincible.

 

Volvo (volvus) – I roll

 

Revolve, revolver, Volvo car, involve, revolution, convolution,

convolvulus (flower)

 

If you are interested in words, please keep these on your computer and run your eye down the list from time to time. I learned these words from Grades 7-12 from 1958 to 1963. I will never forget. 

 

Regards,

 

Bruce Copeland BA BEdSt 

Teacher of English in PNG 

 

Papua New Guinea estimates national HIV prevalence at 0.9% in 2009

PORT MORESBY: The PNG Department of Health (NDOH) and National AIDS Council Secretariat (NACS) have estimated that national HIV prevalence in 2010 is 0.92% with an upward trend.

The latest estimate is based on an analysis conducted in 2009 using most recent data available across the country.

The new estimates of HIV prevalence were carried out by a panel of national and international experts using data on HIV tests among pregnant women at Antenatal Clinics (ANCs) in Highlands, Southern, Momase, and New Guinea Islands regions.

The results were collated and finalised during a joint NDOH-NACS workshop in June 2010.

PNG has been using higher estimates of prevalence since 2007 based on data from a relatively small number of rural and urban sites.

Since then there has been a substantial increase in number of health facilities conducting HIV tests among antenatal mothers and this information has provided enough data to get a better picture of the epidemic in 2009 with a revised 0.92 % prevalence of HIV among adults aged 15-49 years.

 The findings also indicate that there might possibly be an initiation of levelling-off in the spread of epidemic which, however, requires further careful investigations.

National AIDS Council chairman Sir Peter Barter, while expressing his views on the 2009 HIV analysis, said: “The latest estimates have provided us an opportunity to understand the dynamics of HIV spread in the country and see how we are responding to the disease.

“We should not become complacent or relaxed as a result of latest prevalence estimates.

“To me the latest figure of 0.9% is just a step forward towards having a better and realistic picture of HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea as a result of ten-fold improved surveillance.

“The problem of HIV/AIDS is enormous in our country and we need to invest equally enormous resources to fight it out.

“I do not doubt the spread of HIV in high risk groups remains alarmingly high.”

The new estimate has shown substantial increase in the number of ANC sites providing testing services throughout the country from 17 in 2005 to 178 in 2009 resulting in more information being available to draw from.

The latest estimates imply that there have been improvements in the disease surveillance and access to better HIV-related services; however, all other HIV indicators including number of deaths, number of orphans, new HIV cases, stigma, and discrimination do not provide encouraging signs.

The HIV occurrence has been found to be the highest in Highlands and Southern Region (1.02% and 1.17%, respectively) with lower but increasing estimates in Momase and New Guinea Islands (0.63% and 0.61%, respectively).

The total estimated number of people living with HIV in 2009 is 34,100.

Of these, 31,000 were estimated to be adults aged 15+ and 3,100 were estimated to be children.

Overall, about 3,200 people were estimated to be infected in 2009, while more than 1,300 people were estimated to have died from AIDS in the same year.

This analysis also noted a substantial increase in the number of people who are benefiting from counselling and treatment services.

There has also been an increase in the number of newborns able to benefit from the prevention programmes for parent to child HIV transmission.

The new HIV estimates, while presenting the latest overview of the prevalence, have some limitations also to the accuracy of data.

Although much more data is available, the quality of this data is still variable.

There were only a small number of sites that had consistent data.

The team of experts who conducted these estimates has recommended to (a) strengthen surveillance activities, (b) invest in sustainable prevention and treatment efforts, (c) use behavioural and STI surveillance data for interpretation of prevalence trends, and (d) conduct a national household HIV prevalence survey.

Sir Peter said that regardless of what appeared to be a reduced prevalence rate, the first priority must be given to prevention and the strategy was clearly outlined in the National Prevention Strategy and would be evident in the 2011-2016 National HIV Strategy due to be released in the very near future.

Papua New Guinea estimates national HIV prevalence at 0.9% in 2009

PORT MORESBY: The PNG Department of Health (NDOH) and National AIDS Council Secretariat (NACS) have estimated that national HIV prevalence in 2010 is 0.92% with an upward trend.

The latest estimate is based on an analysis conducted in 2009 using most recent data available across the country.

The new estimates of HIV prevalence were carried out by a panel of national and international experts using data on HIV tests among pregnant women at Antenatal Clinics (ANCs) in Highlands, Southern, Momase, and New Guinea Islands regions.

The results were collated and finalised during a joint NDOH-NACS workshop in June 2010.

PNG has been using higher estimates of prevalence since 2007 based on data from a relatively small number of rural and urban sites.

Since then there has been a substantial increase in number of health facilities conducting HIV tests among antenatal mothers and this information has provided enough data to get a better picture of the epidemic in 2009 with a revised 0.92 % prevalence of HIV among adults aged 15-49 years.

 The findings also indicate that there might possibly be an initiation of levelling-off in the spread of epidemic which, however, requires further careful investigations.

National AIDS Council chairman Sir Peter Barter, while expressing his views on the 2009 HIV analysis, said: “The latest estimates have provided us an opportunity to understand the dynamics of HIV spread in the country and see how we are responding to the disease.

“We should not become complacent or relaxed as a result of latest prevalence estimates.

“To me the latest figure of 0.9% is just a step forward towards having a better and realistic picture of HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea as a result of ten-fold improved surveillance.

“The problem of HIV/AIDS is enormous in our country and we need to invest equally enormous resources to fight it out.

“I do not doubt the spread of HIV in high risk groups remains alarmingly high.”

The new estimate has shown substantial increase in the number of ANC sites providing testing services throughout the country from 17 in 2005 to 178 in 2009 resulting in more information being available to draw from.

The latest estimates imply that there have been improvements in the disease surveillance and access to better HIV-related services; however, all other HIV indicators including number of deaths, number of orphans, new HIV cases, stigma, and discrimination do not provide encouraging signs.

The HIV occurrence has been found to be the highest in Highlands and Southern Region (1.02% and 1.17%, respectively) with lower but increasing estimates in Momase and New Guinea Islands (0.63% and 0.61%, respectively).

The total estimated number of people living with HIV in 2009 is 34,100.

Of these, 31,000 were estimated to be adults aged 15+ and 3,100 were estimated to be children.

Overall, about 3,200 people were estimated to be infected in 2009, while more than 1,300 people were estimated to have died from AIDS in the same year.

This analysis also noted a substantial increase in the number of people who are benefiting from counselling and treatment services.

There has also been an increase in the number of newborns able to benefit from the prevention programmes for parent to child HIV transmission.

The new HIV estimates, while presenting the latest overview of the prevalence, have some limitations also to the accuracy of data.

Although much more data is available, the quality of this data is still variable.

There were only a small number of sites that had consistent data.

The team of experts who conducted these estimates has recommended to (a) strengthen surveillance activities, (b) invest in sustainable prevention and treatment efforts, (c) use behavioural and STI surveillance data for interpretation of prevalence trends, and (d) conduct a national household HIV prevalence survey.

Sir Peter said that regardless of what appeared to be a reduced prevalence rate, the first priority must be given to prevention and the strategy was clearly outlined in the National Prevention Strategy and would be evident in the 2011-2016 National HIV Strategy due to be released in the very near future.

More protests at LNG project site

Caption: Local employees at the Kobalu camp outside the Hides gasfield throwing their helmets on the ground and ready to walk off their jobs in protest over poor working conditions and welfare yesterday. They also protested to support demands to the state and ExxonMobil by local landowners and landowner leader Andrew Pulupe (centre with petition paper).-Nationalpic by ANDREW ALPHONSE

 By ANDREW ALPHONSE

CONSTRUCTION work at the Kobalu supply and forward base for the multi-billion-kina PNG LNG project in Tari, Southern Highlands, was yesterday forced to stop by angry landowners as discontent grew at the project site, The National reports.

More than 100 local employees, attached with international contractor Red Seas Housing Services Ltd, also supported the landowners and walked off their jobs.

They complained of poor working condition and unfair treatment.

Kobalu landowner leader Andrew Pulupe forced the gates of the forward base shut at 3.30pm yesterday and ordered expatriate employees of Red Seas to vacate the premises, allowing only the guards to remain behind to look after the property.

Pulupe, who is chairman of Kobalu Joint Venture (JV) Ltd and Hewai Investments Ltd, the two landowners companies from Kobalu, said they supported moves by Hides landowners to force a stop-work until the government and LNG project developer, ExxonMobil, address some of their demands.

Pulupe said Kobalu landowners also wanted to benefit from the government’s business development grants, or seed capital, which other landowners would be getting.

He said they also wanted the state to honour its ministerial commitments made during the umbrella benefits sharing and licensed-based benefits sharing agreements for the LNG project last year.

They also demanded that ExxonMobil restructure the umbrella landowner company, Hides Gas Development Corporation (HGDC), and include landowner companies from each PDL and facility areas as shareholders.

Pulupe had supplied local unskilled labour to Red Seas to construct the forward base which would accommodate more than 200 employees at the site.

The base would also store materials and equipment for the construction of the LNG pipeline, and act as an aviation centre for helicopters.

An expatriate site manager refused to accept a copy of the petition containing the landowner demands when Pulupe attempted to deliver it to him in his makeshift office inside a shipping container yesterday afternoon.

The expatriate told Pulupe and The National to "f***" off and leave his premises and talk to ExxonMobil.

This infuriated Pulupe, who called the local employees together outside for a briefing and asked them to walk off their jobs. In that meeting, the employees complained to Pulupe about their poor working conditions.

They said Red Seas and HGDC had failed to provide proper uniforms and safety gears.

They said they were also told to live out of camp and come to work, and were not provided proper meals daily.

A Red Sea expatriate, when asked to comment on the complaints raised by the local workers, referred The National to HGDC and ExxonMobil.

Apart from Kobalu, work had also stopped at Hides 1 (PDL 1) and Hides 4 (PDL 7) due to landowner protests. Work had stopped since Aug 7.

Polye: I am ready to be Prime Minister

THE National Alliance party’s highlands bloc is rallying behind Deputy Prime Minister Don Polye for the party’s leadership when Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare steps down, The National reports.

In a show of solidarity, members of the Highlands bloc travelled with Polye to Laiagam last Friday to address a huge crowd in the rural township.

Those who travelled included Western Highlands Governor Tom Olga, Tambul-Nebilyer MP and Civil Aviation Minister Benjamin Poponawa, Mul-Baiyer MP and Internal Security Minister Sani Rambi, Wapenamanda MP Miki Kaeok and Lagaip-Porgera MP Philip Kikala.

Polye and his team travelled to Laiagam at the invitation of Kikala to officially close the week-long West Enga tumbuna cultural show.

Polye, who is the highlands deputy NA leader, told the huge crowd that had packed the Laiagam oval that he was ready to take over the party’s leadership when Sir Michael steps down.

Speaking in Engan dialect for maximum impact, Polye explained that the latest political events that saw the sacking of former deputy prime minister Sir Puka Temu was not an attempt to change the government, but an internal leadership issue.

He said the opposition seized the opportunity in creating political instability in pushing for a vote of no-confidence.

Polye said the NA leadership was not restricted to a particular district, province or region, and he would go for it.

 

 

Ministerial committee on Ramu fails to meet

By SINCLAIRE SOLOMON

 

A HIGH-powered ministerial committee, set up four years ago to expedite the K3.2 billion Ramu nickel project in the Bismarck Range of Madang, has never met, The National reports.

The project, Papua New Guinea’s first nickel and cobalt mine, is already 12 months behind schedule and costing developer Ramu NiCo (MCC) more than K7 million a day.

The committee was set up by a special meeting of the national executive council on April 13, 2006, after ministers were given a background brief of the mining at Kurumbukari in Usino-Bundi electorate and refinery operations at Basamuk Bay in Rai Coast electorate.

Its job was to “oversee and expedite the finalisation and implementation of the Ramu nickel-cobalt project” and be led by the mining minister as chairman. The minister at the time was Michael Ogio.

Other ministers in the committee were from works, national planning and monitoring, labour and industrial relations, foreign affairs and immigration, environment and conservation, lands and physical planning and health.

The fact that its existence was not widely known was evident in labour and industrial relations’ moves last year to remove some Chinese workers from Ramu NiCo for failing to fulfil PNG work permit requirements.

Unbeknownst to the department, the special NEC meeting had also directed the foreign affairs and immigration minister to use his powers under relevant legislation “to give appropriate visas to foreign nationals with relevant qualifications and experience required in the construction and development phase of the project”.

The man responsible for all mining and exploration activities in Madang, John Bivi, last week confirmed the formation of the ministerial committee exclusively for the Ramu nickel project but had not received any correspondence and deliberations to date.

“As far as I know, it has never sat,” Bivi, who heads a one-man provincial mines office, said. “It shows clearly the government’s lack of total commitment to the project which the provincial government fully backs.

“It is another case of too much talk, too much promises and no action to back them up,” he said.

Similarly, a spokesman for Ramu NiCo said at the weekend they were not aware that such a ministerial committee existed.

Ramu NiCo is already locked in a court battle with a group of landowners from the Basamuk Bay area who opposed the company’s deep sea tailings placement system.

The latter has been granted an interim injunction stopping work on the tailings system until the substantive issue is heard by Justice David Cannings in Madang this week.

To add to Ramu NiCo’s woes, the acting chief commissioner of the Land Titles Commission Benedict Batata had refused Madang provincial administration’s request for the special land titles commissioners to resume hearing outstanding Ramu nickel project land disputes.

Bivi said they had been informed by the department of justice and attorney-general that the disputes, being heard by the LTC until the death of its chairman, would be listed as an ordinary application for land tenure conversion to be deliberated on at a later date.

“It is obvious that we have not been supportive of this project from day one,” he said.

Bivi said they had noted new Mining Minister John Pundari’s pledge to fast-track the Ramu nickel project, hoping he would revive the ministerial committee and not sit back like his predecessors.