The Project of Improving the Quality of Mathematics and Science Education in Papua New Guinea (March 2016–February 2018)

Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern half of the world’s second largest island, New Guinea and about 1,000 smaller islands. The country’s education sector faces a number of challenges such as the large number of elementary and middle schools located away from the cities and limited access to trained teachers in remote areas. In 2014, the Government of Papua New Guinea sought to reform the sector by introducing a standard curriculum and creating new textbooks which had not been updated or disseminated since 1993. However, the Curriculum Development Division at the Department of Education did not have sufficient expertise and experience to revise the curriculum.

The goal of the project was to help the Department of Education roll out an improved math and science curriculum for 3^rd to 6^th grade. IC Net assisted in the development and dissemination of textbooks and teacher instruction manuals. To ensure that the new textbooks would be used correctly in the classrooms, IC Net also put together orientation materials for teachers to learn how the new textbooks can be effectively incorporated into the math and science lesson plans.