Education in Papua New Guinea

Department of Education
National education budget (2016)
Budget	1242.8 million PGK[1]
General details
Primary languages	English,Tok Pisin,Hiri Motu andothers
System type	Public, religious, private
Literacy (2015 est)
Total	64.2%[2]
Male	65.6%[2]
Female	62.8%[2]
Enrollment (2014)
Total	1,805,000[3]
Primary	1,427,000[3]
Secondary	243,000 (Lower)[3] 136,000 (Upper)[3]

Education inPapua New Guinea is managed through nineteenprovinces and two district organisational units. It is tuition-free and attendance is not compulsory.^[4]

TheHuman Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI)^[5] finds that Papua New Guinea is fulfilling 68.5% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to education based on the country's level of income.^[6] HRMI breaks down the right to education by looking at the rights to both primary education and secondary education. While taking into consideration Papua New Guinea's income level, the nation is achieving 96.5% of what should be possible based on its resources (income) for primary education and only 40.6% for secondary education.^[6]

The first school in Papua New Guinea was established in 1873 by English missionaries. Missionaries would continue providing the basis for education, withEnglish andGerman as primary languages. In 1914, as part of World War I, Australia took control over German New Guinea and English became the sole official language.

The Currie Commission was created in 1964 to investigate the establishment of higher education in theTerritory of Papua and New Guinea. In 1965 the first university in Papua New Guinea, theUniversity of Papua New Guinea, was established. It was heavily influenced by the Australian education system.^[7]

In 1995, the government of Papua New Guinea implemented a bilingual education program that uses both community languages and English.^[8]

Education in Papua New Guinea has been tuition-free since 2012, as one of the election promises of thePeople's National Congress. This policy was cancelled in 2019 under Prime MinisterPeter O'Neill's government, however, PMJames Marape announced in 2021 that his government would re-institute the policy starting in 2022.^[9][10]

Papua New Guinea's history of missionary education has led to a large part of education being provided by religious schools. The Department of Education has estimated that 29% of the country's lower secondary education is operated by churches. 3% is operated by private international schools, while the remainder is funded by the government.^{[citation needed]}

Papua New Guinea has an A-to-D grading system, with D being a failing grade.^{[citation needed]}

During the first three years of formal education, community languages are taught as a subject and used for instruction. In grades seven and eight, instruction is conducted solely in English, although community languages may still be used informally. By the early 2000s, more than 400 languages were being used in Papua New Guinea’s educational system.^[8][11]

There are six universities in Papua New Guinea. These are accredited under the PNG Office of Higher Education and have establishing Acts of Parliament. The six universities and the main campus of each are, in alphabetical order:

• Divine Word University inMadang
• Pacific Adventist University inPort Moresby
• University of Goroka inGoroka
• University of Natural Resources and Environment in Vudal with associated campuses in Popondetta, Kavieng and Sepik
• University of Papua New Guinea inPort Moresby
• University of Technology (Unitech) inLae

In 2015,Papua New Guinean Sign Language became an official language in PNG. Based onAuslan, it is used indeaf education.

• Education in Papua New Guinea

• Webarchive template wayback links
• CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from December 2023
• Articles with unsourced statements from June 2024