Australian Aid to PNG - AusAID

Australia’s funding support has increased significantly in recent years, and itappears this support for Papua New Guinea's education reform process ishaving a positive impact. With an estimated 80% of the government’s ownbudget being spent on teachers’ salaries since the mid 1990s, Australia has beenfunding the vast majority of costs associated with implementing the educationreform agenda. AusAID’s education sector expenditure over the last four yearshas averaged more than A$68 million per year, almost double the averageannual expenditure of the previous four years. Enrolments in the first eightyears of school have increased by over 100,000 in the last three years. Studentretention rates and the number of students going on to higher institutions havealso increased. There is an increased number of qualified teachers and schoolsin Papua New Guinea.Based on the outputs and achievements listed in Box 5.1, it is fair to concludethat Australian aid has had a significant positive influence on improving accessto education, enhancing the quality of education, and building and maintainingcapacity and momentum for reform within the education sector in PapuaNew Guinea.BOX 5.1 EDUCATION SECTOR ACHIEVEMENTS OF AUSTRALIAN ASSISTANCEAccessIn the past ten years the numbers of children attending school has almost doubled,from 510,000 in 1992 to an estimated 1 million in 2002. AusAID support has played akey role in this achievement:• Provided elementary education opportunities for about 270,000 pupils in some4,200 schools, learning in 200 of PNG's 800 languages. Ten years ago there wereno elementary schools in PNG and all children started school in English. A numberof sources indicate that AusAID is certainly the most significant if not the onlydonor in this area.• Increased the number of teachers trained from 600 to 1,000 per annum.• Physically upgraded 240 primary schools.• Provided scholarships for about 2,000 secondary students to study in Australia.• Upgraded 9 high schools in PNG so that Grade 11–12 enrolments could beincreased from 1,000 per annum (1993) to about 5,000 per annum (2002).• Achieved a gradual increase in the proportion of girls enrolled in secondaryschool. The participation rate of girls in Grade 10 has increased from 36% in 1985and 1990 through to 41% in 1998.• Provided up to 150 tertiary scholarships each year for study in Australia. A recentstudy found that over 80% of former scholarship recipients reported improvedconfidence, new and improved competencies, and innovative approaches to work.34 The Contribution of Australian Aid to Papua New Guinea’s Development 1975–2000