18 December 2013
First students complete Rugby League in Schools program
More than 1000 students have successfully completed the new Rugby League in Schools program in the National Capital District (NCD).
The 1183 children at Waigani Primary School, Hohola Demonstration Primary School and St Peter Chanel Primary School completed clinics and classroom exercises that encouraged healthy lifestyles and lifted their physical, social, reading and maths skills.
Up to 50,000 students from 80 schools will participate in the Australian Government-funded program over the next three years. The program will continue in the NCD and expand to East New Britain, Eastern Highlands and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
Acting Minister (Development Cooperation), at the Australian High Commission, James Hall, said the program shows the power of sport to boost children’s development.
“The program goes beyond sport to help children to stay in school longer and improve learning outcomes,” Mr Hall said.
Former Kumuls Captain Mark Mom is the program’s General Manager and former Kumuls player and current assistant coach Nigel Hukula has recently been appointed as Lead Development Officer for the National Capital District.
Mr Hukula said he is excited about the positive impact the program had made with students in such a small amount of time.
“We’ve received encouraging feedback from teachers and parents that the students taking part in the program were better engaged in school work,” Mr Hukula said.
“Another terrific outcome is the very strong involvement of girls in our program, who are mostly engaging with rugby league for the first time.
“We also have male and female development officer at each session and are working to develop a range of positive female role models within the sport of rugby league in Papua New Guinea.”
The Rugby League in Schools program is delivered through a partnership between the Australian Sports Commission and the Australian NRL and the PNG National Department of Education. The PNG Rugby Football League, PNG Women’s Rugby Football League and the University of PNG are key supporters of the program.
The $4 million Rugby League in Schools program is part of the Australian Government’s $15 million Pacific Sports Partnership, which is working to strengthen grassroots sports activities in Pacific communities. It aims to build the skills of administrators, coaches and officials to take up the cause of achieving development outcomes through sport.