Trainee teachers in their college classroom in Nuku, West Sepik Province.

Equipping the next generation of teachers

Story by Tajs Jespersen, Pictures by Glenda Giles

MAF flights enabled a boost of encouragement and professional training for the lecturers and students at the Nuku Teachers College.

Glenda Giles, who retired as a classroom teacher in 2021 after four decades of investing in hundreds of students' education, visits schools on behalf of the Christian Brethren Churches (CBC) to encourage and improve their practices.

In April she visited the Nuku Teachers College located at Yimbrasi, West Sepik Province, a 40 minutes drive from Nuku airstrip where MAF operates.

The Nuku Teacher’s College houses more than 130 students and works to prepare the next generation of primary teachers in Sandaun Province.

“I understand that it is the only institution in West Sepik Province that provides Primary Teacher Training,” Glenda said.

Glenda Giles (third from right) and trainee teachers of Nuku.

With her wealth of experience in establishing high schools and secondary schools in remote places of mainland Papua New Guinea, Glenda keeps investing in the education system of this country.

The visit at Nuku was to assist the college with advice and teaching, and to report back to CBC about its operation, successes and challenges.

The importance of running a professional operation cannot be underestimated, as the college is seeking approval for government registration.

“It was encouraging to see the college operating smoothly during my visit with a regular timetable of lectures and a strong emphasis on giving students well supervised peer teaching practice,” Glenda wrote in her report.

No MAF, no college.

Even in dry season the road to Nuku is still a major challenge.

The teacher’s college is situated in a remote area with very little access to supplies, food and medical facilities. Maintaining a college of such size and quality would for many seem like an impossible task.

“The CBC churches are to be commended for their efforts to maintain this professional institution,” Glenda wrote.

Glenda had looked at other options to go to the teacher’s college, but friends and colleagues had told her it simply wasn’t safe.

“MAF is the only way to go. It’s unsafe to go by road due to hold-ups and bad roads especially during the wet season,” she said.

Perhaps it would have been an impossible task to run the college if MAF couldn’t fly the necessary supplies and personnel back and forth to Nuku station.

Glenda finds it unlikely for the college to have success at Yimbrasi if MAF weren’t there to support it.

“If MAF wasn’t there, then the college probably wouldn’t be there,” she said.