HIV Textbook launch
29 September 2009; Badihagwa Technical Secondary School, Port Moresby, PNG
Australian High Commissioner to PNG, HE Chris Moraitis
Acknowledgements:
Secretary for Department of Education, Dr Joseph Pagelio
Principals
Teachers and Students from Badihagwa Secondary and Hagara Primary Schools
Ladies and gentlemen
Good afternoon and thank you for the invitation to be here today.
Today is a very important day.
Today is about two important challenges facing Papua New Guinea.
The first of these challenges is about making sure that children in Papua New Guinea not only get an education but they get a good education.
And the second challenge is about the fight against HIV and AIDS.
You students sitting here today may not realise this but you have a big and important role to play in both these challenges.
At the moment only 53 per cent of kids in PNG get to go to primary school but more importantly what this means is that almost half of PNG’s primary school-age kids do not get to go to school.
Hopefully by the time some of you are finished school, around 2015, this figure will have changed so that over 70 per cent of kids are getting a primary education.
Because, that is what the PNG Government has agreed to do in partnership with Australia.
Prime Minister Somare and Prime Minister Rudd have agreed to focus on increasing the enrolment rate of kids in school by around 20 per cent by 2015.
Now that may not sound like much but what it means is that by 2015 an extra 300,000 Papua New Guinean children will be getting a chance at a primary education. This is certainly not a small figure.
This agreement is part of the Partnership for Development agreed to by our two Prime Ministers last year.
And of course it’s not just about getting more kids into school we have also had to focus on making sure there will be enough teachers and that these teachers have the right training and curriculum support.
The second challenge is about the fight against HIV and AIDS.
Unless the rate of infection changes in PNG, it is estimated that by 2025 more than 500, 000 people could be living with HIV.
This is a scary figure when you realise that the total population at the moment is only around six million people.
And it won’t stop there. It will have a major impact on PNG social and economic development.
By this I mean that children will be without parents.
And it will mean that there won’t be enough people to do the jobs that need doing. It will be a big problem for PNG.
And while I my intention wasn’t to scare the students here today I did want to get across the message that this is a serious problem.
Particularly as it will be the kids sitting here today who will be making the decisions of tomorrow that will effect PNG’s future.
It is you students here today who will be tomorrow’s politicians, tomorrow’s doctors, tomorrow’s tradesmen, tomorrow’s teachers. It is you kids here today who hold the future of your country in your hands.
But what I also wanted to say is that it is not your problem alone and hopefully by the time you are in a position to make decisions and take action on these issues the course will already be well set.
Much is being done already to set PNG on the right path and an important step is being taken here today.
Education plays a big part in addressing any major development issue.
And today we’re here to launch a text book that will provide teachers and students with the knowledge to not only understand a major problem but guidance on how to address some very important challenges.
With the support of the Australian Government, the PNG Department of Education has purchased 180,000 copies of the HIV-AIDS and STI textbook.
The textbook was written especially for the PNG Personal Development syllabus.
Every primary, secondary and high school in the country will receive a library set of 40 copies.
This will be accompanied by primary school readers – funded by the New Zealand government – teaching guides and syllabus for all secondary and high schools, a HIV and AIDS resource book for teachers and posters for the school.
This means that teachers the length and breadth of PNG now have access a very important teaching tool.
This valuable package means that teachers will be able to incorporate materials into the school curriculum and this will be a major step forward in getting a strong focus on the challenges of HIV and AIDS.
It will also mean a generation of Papua New Guinean kids are better educated about HIV and AIDS and it will mean a generation of PNG kids who can take positive action against HIV and AIDS.
One particular area of the text caught my attention and that is the section on stigma.
One of the greatest challenges in HIV and AIDS is the way people treat those living with the disease. There are some horrible stories surrounding this but sadly it’s mostly through a lack of education that people do this.
People are scared of things they do not understand. So what they do is turn against their wantoks, their neighbours and their friends simply because they do not have the right information available to them.
You students here today do not have this excuse. Based on these texts you will know what HIV is, how it spreads, how to prevent contracting it and how to care for those who might have it.
And with this knowledge also comes the responsibility I mentioned earlier. And that responsibility is to ensure that you pass this knowledge on to others so that you become the generation who changed the way that PNG understands and addresses the challenge of HIV and AIDS.
The books are being packed as we sit here today. I understand that a warehouse in Waigani is a hive of activity as the books are packaged up for distribution to PNG’s 3,400 primary schools and 225 secondary schools.
I am very excited about this project and very pleased and proud that Australia is able to support its good friend and neighbour in this important endeavour.