CONTENTS

 

 

HISTORY

Abisan Primary School on Karkar Island, Sumkar district, Madang province was established in 1960 as an area school by the Colonial Administration to cater for educational benefit for the children of Kulbob area namely; Wadau, Kurubek, Burag, Yukyuk, Kubam, and Bagbag Island.

 

It was one of the five early schools established on Karkar Island. The school has been in operation for 49 years and has graduated for the past 41 years.

 

From 1960 to 2003, the school provided preparatory to grade 6 classes. In 2003 the school introduced grade 7, followed by grade 8 classes in 2004. From 20 students in 1960, the enrollment in year 2009 was 323 out of which 145 are female students, which is approximately 45% of the total number of students. The school initially was a level-three-school with three teaching staff members and has developed to a level-four-school with 10 teaching staff members. Out of the ten teaching staff members, seven are female teachers.

 

The initial classroom buildings were of bush-material and were later replaced by permanent buildings by the Karkar Local Level Government (KLLG) in 1962.

 

Appropriate maintenance of building infrastructure and upgrading of existing facilities were overlooked for the past 47 years. These buildings have deteriorated, some beyond repair. However, the school has strived to do its utmost best in maintaining the educational standard and quality, and has continued to deliver classes in these deteriorating building conditions. Such buildings are being used by grades 7 and 8 students.

 

To-date, the school has held five grade 8 graduation ceremonies. Unfortunately, it was noted that the majority of graduates could not make it to higher institutions due to limited spacing. Introducing grade 9 and 10 classes would greatly benefit the majority of grade 8 school leavers. (Back to contents)

 

THE HEAD TEACHER

MRS. DUBILA. IBAK

Mrs. Dubila Ibak is the first female Head Teacher (Administrator) of Abisan Primary School since 2003. She was forced to leave Kavailo Primary School because of the decision from the Board of Management that she was not capable of managing that school.

 

Meanwhile, Mr. Saibung Sei (former Program Manager Education) decided that Mrs. Ibak was to head another school, Abisan Primary School.

 

On arrival, Abisan Primary School was not quite as she expected. The classrooms sat in savage vegetation inhabiting overgrown trees and bushy fields providing homes for snakes and unwanted creatures while a classroom built of bush material had its roof almost falling off. The school had an account balance of 67 toea (K0.67). This was one school Mrs. Ibak had to prove that women too were capable of being good leaders or heads of organizations.

 

The school started shaping up when Mrs. Ibak started setting goals and priorities and working on them. Her goals were/are;

 

  1. To bring the school’s account balance to K18000.00 before withdrawing,
  2. To maintain or improve Students Academic Exellency,
  3. To improve the school’s physical development,
  4. To improve teacher’s entitlements (living conditions).

These are all being dealt with seriously and are still in progress. (Back to contents)

 

AIM

Mrs. Ibak has an aim to bring Abisan Primary School to a state where it can accommodate grade 8 school leavers to further their education in a lower secondary school level (grades 9 and 10). This is to create opportunities for students to continue to the upper secondary school level (grades 11 and 12).

 

On an official visit to Karkar Island (30th December 2008), Mr. Christopher Bulu (former Education Advisor, Madang province) visited Abisan Primary School. His visit was to asses and recommend if Abisan Primary School has the possible of being upgraded to a lower secondary school level.

 

Mr. Bulu inspected the facilities and the teaching staff strength of the school. He recommended that Abisan Primary School should take on board and implement the Madang Provincial Education Plan (2007 – 2015) which is to introduce grades 9 and 10 to primary schools.

 

However, with the insufficient facilities such as buildings etc. the school still has to meet some requirement before upgrading to a lower secondary level. (Back to contents)

 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

 

Since administrating Abisan Primary School, Mrs. Ibak has accomplished many ‘missions'. These are;

Having accomplished the above, Mrs. Ibak wishes to do more for the school. The list below was provided by Mrs. Ibak.

 

The school would greatly appreciate help from any individuals or organizations willing to contribute to the development of Abisan Primary School. (Back to contents)

 

BOARD OF MANAGEMENT

 

The Board of Management of Abisan Primary School consists of local community members representing villages students come from, a member representing the Parents & Citizens Association (PCA), the Head Teacher, and a teachers' representive.

 

The Board Members for each village are as follows;

PCA representative and Chairman – Mr. Garim Matei

Teachers’ representative – Mrs. Juliet Getati

Head Teacher – Mrs. Dubila Ibak

 

All have contributed effectively to the management of the school, resulting in many changes during their three year term as Board Members. Their contribution is greatly appreciated. (Back to contents)

 

STUDENTS

 

Most students attending Abisan Primary School come from the communities surrounding the school. They walk over as far as one kilometer to school each day. Sometimes students get help from PMV trucks but this is not always the case. Regardless of the distances, most students are rarely late for classes. (Back to contents)

 

CLASSROOMS

 

Abisan Primary School has five double classrooms, all built from permanent building materials. Three of these classrooms were built during the start of the school in 1962. One of the two classrooms was built with the help of the Karkar Local Level Government, still incomplete, while the other was built with the Parents and Citizens (P & C) project money. (Back to contents

 

TEACHERS HOUSES

Abisan Primary School has nine permanent houses for teachers, nicely built, compared to other schools on Karkar Island.

 

Added to this number of houses are a newly built permanent house and another undergoing major maintenance totaling up to 11 houses.

 

(Back to contents)

 

OUTSIDE HELP

Apart from the very hardworking parents who contribute to pay their project fees, the Basic Education Development Project (BEDP), an Australian Aid to the Papua New Guinea Education Department, funded two projects as listed below;

  1. Maintenance of one of the oldest built classrooms (built in 1962). BEDP gave Abisan Primary School, K6336.00 wile the school Board of Management funded the rest. The overall project costed K15000.00.
  2. Acquittals for the first project were submitted and new fundings were received for the building of the school toilets. This project was also funded mostly by the BEDP and the school Board of Management also assisted. The total cost of the project was K14000.00.

Apart from the BEDP funded projects, the Karkar Local Level Government has also promised Abisan Primary School with an amount of K80000.00 to cater for another big project, which will be a library and an administration building. The school is yet to receive this fund.

(Back to contents)

 

PROJECTS

 

Abisan Primary School has been upgraded to a Primary status and so students need practical activities to enhance their way of living. Therefore, the Board of Management has funded several projects for students’ practical purposes. The projects are,

 

  1. Chicken poultry,
  2. Petrol sales project,
  3. Maintaining school copra plantation and,
  4. Class agriculture gardens.

During Making a Living (MAL) lessons, students are taken out for practical classes. In the near future the school will be taking on board more projects for students learning. Proposed projects are as follows;

 

  1. Piggery farm,
  2. Canteen, and
  3. Kerosene sale.

The school earns money through existing projects. The last sales of chicken generated K400.00 for the school while the petrol project generated a profit of K250.00. Agriculture classes are not taken for the purpose of making profits. However, methods of farming and cooking are learnt and after every cooking class, a ‘feast’ is held. (Back to contents)

 

COMMUNITY

 

The communities in which the school is situated in are usually where students come from, including Bagabag Island. People are very kind and friendly towards teachers and students. Safety and security is not a problem here in Abisan Primary School. Teachers and students are free to move as they will without the need of security protection. So far there has not been any forms of destruction and theft of school properties. Abisan Primary School is safe and secure school to reside and teach in it. (Back to contents)

 

 

 

Copyright©2009-2010, Abisan Primary School. All rights reserved.