THE Australian High Commissioner to PNG Jon Phil has opened a K6.7 million worth building facilities of the first all girls’ school in Simbu Province recently.
Mr Jon Phil accompanied by Acting Prime Minister John Rosso commissioned the buildings on Tuesday at the Dirima Mary Immaculate Girls Technical Secondary School (MIGTSS), a Catholic agency school perched in Gumine district, 37km south of Kundiawa.
The occasion was also witnessed by Gumine member elect Lucas Dawa, Catholic Bishop of Kundiawa Rev Paul Sundu, district and province administration officials and representatives from Australia – PNG Partnership program Incentive Fund and PNG Water board chairman Aiwa Olmi with over 2,000 people of Dirima-Yani and surrounding communities together with the 90 students of MIGTSS.
The facilities include six fully furnished staff houses, a double classroom laboratory for garment sewing and computer laboratory with accessories, 80-bed dormitory with amenities, incinerator, street solar light with staff and students’ ablution. The programme also enabled the school to purchase a 65kva generator set.
The total cost of the infrastructure improvement programme was K6, 798, 187.56 with the initial funding from Catholic Diocese of Kundiawa under the former Bishop Anton Bal, now Archbishop of Madang, while the bulk of of K6.4 million funds was sourced from Incentive Fund through the PNGAus Partnership Programme.
High Commissioner Phil, said he was happy to see the new buildings standing to completion. Steward Construction Consultation, a national company based in Mt Hagen, Western Highlands province, constructed the buildings.
Mr Phil said the assistance from Incentive Fund was to enhance girls learning comparable with boys’ education of which the female population is close to 50% in the country.
He said the facilities would attract the best staff to come to teach in a rural setting like Dirima to produce quality students now and into the future.
Mr Phil said schools are central to improving quality of life where local authorities with Incentive Fund can work together to aid development in the country.
Meanwhile Acting Prime Minister John Rosso in acknowledging the Australian Government through the Australian High Commissioner and Incentive Fund said the girls school once started off as a vocational school in 1991, upgraded to high school in 2015, and now fully fledged girls technical secondary school attained in 2018 stands to empower women population in Simbu has fulfilled the vision of the team that wanted to accelerate girls education.
He said the Marape-Rosso Government is a strong supporter of empowering our women and girls’ advancement as part of the Take Back PNG policy and for Australian Government for supporting this policy in ensuring 80% of the aid program is focusing on empowering women population in the country.
The MIGTSS infrastructure upgrade program started in in March of 2021 was managed by a lean team of the Silesian Sisters of Mary Immaculate (SSMI) comprised of Sr Regina Anthony as coordinator, Sr Angeline as manager finance, and Sr Vincy doing monitoring and evaluation.
The SSMI founded the now girls technical secondary school, the first all girls school in 1991.
