An ambulance crew belonging to the St John Ambulance was attacked in the early hours of Thursday morning by a group of anti-vax protesters in Lae. The crew consisting of three ambulance officers were attending to a female patient along the Boinamo Gravel Road in Lae when they were attacked by the group. The group were under the assumption that the crew was giving vaccine jabs to the people. The crew members were verbally abused and accused of conducting vaccinations and threatened to have the ambulance smashed for being suspected of carrying out vaccination in the communities. It so happened that while two ambulance officers were attending to the patient, the other officer including the patient’s husband stepped out to try and appease the angry protestors by explaining to them what was actually happening. Both the officer and the husband were assuring the crowd that they were not the vaccination team and that they were only attending to an emergency case in the area. “This is now the second incident that the ambulance officers in Lae have had to come across within the space of two weeks,” said CEO of St John Ambulance Matt Cannon. A similar incident had taken place last week when a crew was attending to a case which the police are still trying to investigate and resolve. “Scepticism and misinformation floating around is that the public assumption now is that St John Ambulance is involved in a vaccine roll out when that is clearly not the case.” “Under this pretext, the work life of our ambulance officers is at high risk of getting attacked under these threats from these anti-vax groups and protesters.” “It is an on-going issue where assumptions are made by these protesters that the St John Ambulance officers attending to emergency cases are seemingly seen to be roll out vaccinations,” Mr Cannon said. St John Ambulance in Lae have assured that they are not running any vaccination rollouts in any community and that the Ambulance teams are there to help people in Lae in times of emergencies. “Being abused or assaulted by those whom we are trying to help is really unacceptable and does not help us do our job.” “We call on the Lae community to be respectful toward our ambulance officers during this time as so much more people are in need of our help,” Mr Canon said.

The Divine Word University Eastern Highlands Students Association in Madang recently hosted an appeal to help families of those suffering from Covid-19 back in their home province in Goroka. The appeal program which took place last week Saturday was organised by Mr. Awaso Peter, a final year Mathematics and Computer Science student who said that the program was aimed at helping families and loved ones back at home who are currently battling the Covid-19 pandemic. “We the students came up with this initiative a couple of weeks back where we decided to do a wheelbarrow push collecting money starting from the school all the way to Madang town and back.” “After getting approval from the school administration, we carried out the program at Madang town however we disregarded the wheelbarrow push due to the increase in Covid-19 cases in the Madang Province.” “There were two parts to our appeal program. The first part took place in the morning at Madang town where we set up by putting up a banner and a table for anyone who was willing to contribute." “The second part was also similar and was held at the school campus,” Peter said. Due to the current surge in Covid-19 cases, only vaccinated students were allowed to take part in this appeal program. Peter said that the outcome of the appeal program turned out to be successful as there where a lot of contributions that were given in. He said that a total of K1, 321.30 was raised that day. Peter thanked everyone for the contributions towards raising funds for the families back at home. “I would like to thank all the other students’ associations in the school for their contributions as well as the lecturers and staff of DWU and also not forgetting our EHP community residing in Madang and to everyone else out there who contributed in one way or the other.” Apart from the contributions made, the students also put in a total of K1, 500 from their own provincial club money. He said that the EHP students of DWU decided that they will give what they raised for their club back to the ones who need it the most. Peter further added that the association leaders from the three universities (UPNG, Unitech & DWU) will meet when the holidays resume and organize to take the cash donations to Goroka.

Grade 10 students in Goroka, Eastern Highlands are among 74,000 plus students sitting their first paper in the Grade 10 national examinations nationwide, despite a provincial lock down in place due to a spike in COVID-19 cases in the province. Eastern Highlands Governor Peter Numu and the Provincial COVID-19 Controller John Gimiseve announced on the weekend that the lock down which begun today will continue till 26th October to minimize high COVID-19 surge in the province that has spread to all eight districts in the province killing many people. Principal of Goroka Secondary, Mr. Peter Hasu, said the Department of Education has suspended all grade 9 and 11 classes for two weeks in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said this was to create sufficient space in the school for the students who will be sitting for their exams. “We the staff and students are applying as much as possible the COVID-19 protocols within the school premises. Face masks are compulsory for everyone to wear as well sanitizing of hands and social distancing.” “We are also applying 1.5 to 2 meters social distancing in all classrooms. In addition to that, students are also being sanitized at the gates before making their way into the school.” Hasu said that the school are coping well as usual. He added that the students and staff are strictly sticking to the new normal. He added that with the current Covid-19 surge in the Province, movement of students are being closely monitored. “We are making sure that all COVID-19 preventive measures are being applied this week so that all the grade 10 students can be able to sit for their exams without any disturbances relating to COVID-19.” Hasu said that the school has been given further instructions from the Governor as well as the Pandemic Controller that there will be lockdown as of 2pm today. Hasu however said that the school are trying to get in touch with the National Pandemic Controller to make an exception particularly for the grade 10 and 12s as well the teacher to continue attending school for the sake of the National Exams. The grade 10's began their exams today starting with Mathematics, followed by their second paper which is Personal Development. Earlier, the Education Department said the national examinations for this year will go ahead as planned and there will be no delays despite the surge in COVID-19 cases. Education Secretary Dr. Uke Kombra said the examinations must be held as scheduled to avoid any delays in the certification and selections and most importantly any opportunities for mal-practices such as cheating or selling and buying of examination information. "I am calling on every province to take full responsibility and assess the COVID-19 situation in the province and ensure that students are given all support they need to be able to sit the exams." The published dates for the examinations are; Grade 10 (LSSCE) Exam Dates: 11 – 15 October (One Week), Grade 12 (USSCE) Exam, 18 – 22 October (One Week) and Grade 8 (COBE) Exam 25-28 October, 2021 (4 days). A total of 31, 817 Grade 12, 74, 982 Grade10, and 137,769 Grade 8 students are expected to sit the national examinations.

Warangoi Secondary School in East New Britain Province, will be launching two projects that will take place this year. This includes the launching of a new school truck worth K155, 000 as well as two school policy books created by both the Principal and the Deputy Principal of the school. According to School Principal, Mrs. Naomi Vuvu, the first policy book is titled BMP which stands for Behavioral Management Policy (BMP) and the second policy book is called SLIP which is the School Improvement Plan Policy. Mrs Vuvu said that both books will serve its’ purpose on shaping the school in terms of discipline, academic and financial stability. “As for the Behavioral Management Policy Book, we will use that for the discipline of the school.” “This book will be used as a guidance for students in disciplining them well and putting them on the right path,” Mrs Vuvu said. “For the second book which is the School Improvement Policy, this book is more tied to the budget of the school. How we spend the school’s project fees and so forth will reflect on this book. Therefore, it is important we have this book so the school is guided on how to spend money wisely.” Mrs Vuvu added that funding for the school truck as well as the two policy books have been funded and taken from the school’s project fees. “This is the first time for the school to be funding our own projects without the help of anyone in authority. Though it is quite challenging for the school, it is also an accomplishment because this shows how independent we are as well.” Mrs Vuvu said that the official launching of the projects will be launched by the Member of the Pomio, Honorable, Elias Kapavore. Apart from the launching, the school has an upcoming project that is set to take place soon and that is the duplex houses for the teachers. Mrs Vuvu said the duplex houses will also be funded by the school itself worth K460, 000. “These are the projects that we the school are funding for the benefit of our students and staff. This comes with improving the quality of infrastructures and education in the school.” Mrs Vuvu further added that the school is looking forward to a good outcome from these projects and hopes for a better and improved school for the sake of the students and teachers.

Karkar Secondary School in Madang Province, yesterday received a cheque sum of K100, 000 plus a total of eighty computers from the Madang Governor, Sir Peter Yama, as part of his commitment towards helping the school. The money was presented to the Principal of Karkar Secondary, Mr. Jeremiah Buza at the Governor’s office within the Sir Bato Bultin Building. According to Yama, the money presented was a promise made to the students and staff of Karkar Secondary when he visited Karkar Island for the Provincial Executive Council meeting. “This is the K100, 000 I promised the school when I went to Karkar Island on a ‘Going Rural Policy’ with the PEC. I promised to help run the school towards the end of the year and this is what I am doing now.” “Apart from this, I also made a commitment of providing the school with eighty computers which I will be presenting to the school during the graduation,” Yama said. The Principal of Karkar Secondary School, Mr. Jeremiah Buza, thanked the Governor for honoring his commitment towards the school as this is a huge help for the students in terms of their studies. “This money will truly help the students and the school to complete the year on a high note.” “Therefore, on behalf of the school, its administration and the people of Karkar Island in the Sumkar District, I would like to thank you Mr. Peter Yama for your support,” Mr Buza said. The presentation by the Governor was made in the presence of acting Provincial Administrator Clement Tare, as well as Sumgilbar LLG President Brenden Kennedy and the Sumkar District Administrator and President of Karkar LLG, Alex Kudud, who were all there to witness the ceremony yesterday. Yama also thanked the school principal for honoring his commitment and for his tireless effort towards managing the school as well as the students and staff.

The DWU Alumni Madang Chapter hosted their first meeting last week Saturday at the Madang Star International Hotel Conference Room. The agendas of the meeting included fundraisings, membership fees and annual activity plans to be hosted and planned by the members of the Chapter. Secretary of the DWU Alumni Madang Chapter, Rex Sos, said that the first meeting followed right after the executive members were elected to run the Chapter. Sos said that the executives met to discuss in-house issues before the first general meeting took place. “We the executives sat down to discuss a number of in-house issues before we called the first general meeting where all the members of the chapter took part in to discuss our plans for this year.” Sos said that agendas discussed during the meeting included a number activities starting with the first one being the registration fee for members. He said that this is where the executives discussed and came up with a certain amount that the members will pay in order to be part of the chapter. “Once the registration is done, the members then have access to a number of activities that the alumni chapter will go through for this year.” “The second agenda we discussed were fundraisings. This is where we planned a number of fundraisings that the chapter will be preparing for and how many will be hosted for this year alone.” Sos said that the third agenda was choosing committee members for the Chapter. These working committees will be chosen according to different sectors of the chapter that these committees will be allocated to and will be in charge of. “The final agenda of the meeting was to come up with an annual yearly work plan calendar where we plan and jot down dates for events, whether it be community service work or an event that is in line with the university or in line with the Madang Community.” Sos added that the whole purpose of the creation of this Madang chapter is to help give back to the community of Divine Word and to Madang and also to create a unity bond between the Alumni members of Madang. “The outcome of the meeting was successful and although the turn up wasn’t as expected, we still had enough quorum for the meeting.” “The committee members and the yearly plan calendar have been finalized and will be announced as of this week,” Sos said.

‘Children by choice and not by chance’ is the mission statement made by Marie Stopes PNG in line with the World Contraceptive Day that is set to take place this Sunday. This announcement was made yesterday during a press conference organised by Marie Stopes. Marie Stopes Country Director, Dr. David Ayres, said that the purpose for the celebrations is to raise awareness about the World Contraceptive Day and the importance of contraception aimed to help youths, men and women of reproductive age. Ayres stressed that these people have the right to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health. “We are working towards empowering people to have children by choice and not by chance.” “This means people have the power to choose when they have children, the power to choose how many children they want to have and the power to choose how far apart those children will be.” “The reality in PNG is that a large number of pregnancies are unplanned with approximately 25% unwanted pregnancies.” Ayres said that a large number of unwanted and unplanned pregnancies end in abortion which is a reality in PNG and around the world. “Women and girls living in a country such as PNG where abortion practices are restricted, often resort to unsafe abortions.” “We also know that unplanned and unwanted pregnancies result in higher child mortality and high maternal mortality.” Ayres said that Marie Stopes is striving towards avoiding unwanted and unplanned pregnancies and to do that, contraception is the key. According to Ayres, World Contraceptive Day is important for many other reasons. He said that regardless of what stage of life you are at, contraception is appropriate. “Contraception is also important for married women who still want children because this helps space their pregnancies.” “Men are also entitled in using contraception as well in terms of using a condom or having a vasectomy for those who don’t want to have any more children.” Mr Ayres also encouraged all parents to educate their children about contraception at an early age and further added that contraception is for anyone despite of age. The family planning organization which operates in thirty-seven countries around the world, hopes to help more people in educating them about contraception so that every pregnancy can be made by choice.

The Central and NCD Students Association of Divine Word University recently donated bags of clothing to the people of Uya Community, Ward 13 of Astrolabe Bay LLG, Rai Coast District in Madang Province. President of the Association, Mr Nicholas Kaita, said that this was one of the club’s main objectives for this year which was to give back to one of the many communities in Madang. “This was an initiative taken by us the students to give back to the people as a way of saying thank you for the beautiful institution and the province in which we are getting an education from.” “As our school motto goes, ‘It is in giving that we receive’, and this is what we are doing for the community,” Mr Kaita said. According to Kaita, this is the first time a provincial group from the institution has taken up an initiative like this. “The community was really happy with the donations they were given, especially from us students just by seeing on their faces how happy they were.” Kaita said that this program was not only about giving to community but was also a good time for the students to see and experience a new environment out of their comfort zone and to know and learn about the struggles these kinds of communities’ face. “Most of these communities have lack of access to basic services such as health, education as well as a lack of law and order in their community and so this is something we students need to see and learn from.” Kaita added that apart from the donations made, the students also made time to give educational talks about current issues in the province and around the country as well. “The educational talks we gave covered issues on law and order as well as creating awareness about Covid-19 in the country and how it can be prevented,” said Mr Kaita. The students’ association extended their word of thank you to Kalibobo Clothing Haus for providing 3 bales of clothing in making the program possible. Kaita encouraged other provincial groups within the institution to help the communities in the province in whatever way they can.

Divine Word University will be hosting its Diversity Night tomorrow at the DWU campus hosted by the DWU SRC committee. The theme for this year’s Diversity Night is ‘Unite and share the language of love through the true spirit of independence.’ The annual event is a pre-independence celebration which leads up to the Independence Day. This event is about students from the twenty-two provinces showcasing their diverse cultures through their traditions and cultures. The event consists of two representatives each, a male and female who are selected to represent their province. SRC President, Phillie Julai, said that, as for this year’s event, it will be different adding that this year’s diversity night will be dedicated to the Late Grand Chief, Sir Michael Somare. Julai said that a representative from each province will provide a speech in commemoration of what Sir Michael did for each of the province and the impacts he had on them that led the country to independence. “We planned the Diversity Night to be a more educational event so that we educate ourselves on what Sir Michael Somare has done for our country as a sign of respect to him and to also keep his legacy alive during this year’s Independence celebration.” According to Julai, there will be no Independence Celebration this year in school due to Covid-19, however, there will be a raising of the PNG flag followed by fun activities and games.

PNG Fashion Week and Glow Boutique recently hosted a press conference in preparation for the upcoming NGCB Paradise Runway which is set to take place on the 18th of this month at the Hilton Hotel. A total of eleven designers were nominated to take part in this year’s first runway show. These designers who are both in the emerging and established category include Heai Ugava, Dylan Yaruso, Natasha Tamanabae, Cynthia Chapman, Elizabeth Omeri, Anna Amos, Wandid Korimbo, Tabu Pelei Warupi, Melinda Poksen, Naomi Tom and Kenny Ng. During the conference, the designers were presented with incentives including vouchers from a number of sponsors with National Gaming Control Board as their main sponsor followed by Tango, Shady Rest, Zucci mode and Wimble and Co. Managing Director of PNG Fashion Week Ms Philma Kelegai said that the purpose of the upcoming runway show goes in line with Independence where the nominated designers showcase their designs based on culture and the presentation of traditional attire through fashion. “This event is a first of its kind as it gives us Papua New Guineans a sense of celebrating Independence through this event.” “The scheduling of this event during Independence is a huge deal, because, while we celebrate the country’s Independence, we also celebrate our culture, so what a better way to express that in our fashion,” Ms Kelegai said. Ms Kelegai thanked the sponsors for their contribution towards the designers and hopes to make the Paradise Runway an annual event.

“Promoting Access to Quality Education and Training for All” is the theme for this year’s ENB Education Expo which will be held at the Catholic Diocesan Hall, Vunapope, which started today and up till Thursday 9th of September. The expo is targeted for all schools in the province including non-school leavers and the general public. The event is hosted by the Education Division under the East New Britain Provincial Administration. Chairlady of the ENB Education Expo, Ruth Coplen, said that in previous years, the expo was targeted for mainly grade 10's and 12's, however, has changed this year because, there was a need to educate the general public as a whole. Coplen said that the expo brings together all institutions in the province to showcase and provide what they have to offer including the performance of practicals. These institutions include Teachers colleges and Business Colleges. “There are two aims behind this expo, firstly to bring all established institutions in the province together to showcase what they are made of and secondly for those institutions to educate the students and the general public as well.” Coplen said that the administration wanted to change the whole mindset of the students by getting them to realize what the province already has to offer and this will help educate them through these institutions. “As for the grade 12 students, this expo is targeted mainly for them as well so they don’t have to look far when applying to other tertiary institutions elsewhere, but instead can apply within the province.” “Apart from the institutions attending the expo, Department of Higher Education, Research and Technology plus a number of organizations will also be present to showcase what they have. These organizations include all the Banks in PNG, Cocoa Board, the University of Natural Resources and Environment, as well as Church organizations.” Coplen encouraged all students and the general public who attend the expo to utilize the exchange of knowledge and information as a way of enhancing their learning and to make rightful decisions at an early age.

Sevese Morea Primary School in Vabukori, will be receiving a newly reconstructed school including classrooms, ablution blocks and 14 teachers’ houses. Headmistress Ms. Julie Willie said that both the students and staff were very happy and thankful about receiving a brand-new school. “The school itself is very old and hasn’t been looked at for almost twenty years now.” “We are in need especially for new classrooms so that our students can learn in a good environment,” Ms Willie said. Willie said that the initial ground breaking ceremony of the reconstruction of the school took place in 2016, however, was delayed up until this day. Member for Moresby South, Mr Justin Tkanchenko met with the teachers and students on Friday regarding the project that will be taking place. Tkatchenko thanked the students, staff and parents for their patience throughout these five years since the ground breaking took place. “I would like to thank the students, staff and parents for your patience, and for bearing a little bit of pain for your long-term gain to benefit you, your education and your community which is your school.” Moresby South MP Tkatchenko stressed on the importance of education and with the upcoming new classrooms, this is the first step of learning in a good environment. According to Ms. Willie, the students and staff were very happy for the commitment and attention given to them by their member and NCDC for the reconstruction of the school. “We are thankful because these kinds of gestures and commitment gives our students and staff hope and a chance of learning, teaching and living in a new and hopeful environment,” Ms Willie said. The reconstruction of the school is set to start as of today.