Papua New Guinea Archives - Page 7 of 41

As a parent it’s hard to accept that so much of our children’s lives are largely beyond our control. We send them off to school with the hope that their teachers will nurture their learning, and ensure they feel safe and cared for.

With most Australian schools having banned corporal punishment, it’s a reminder of how far we’ve come in eliminating the risk of physical harm from our classrooms.

Classroom violence in the Asia-Pacific

Unfortunately for many children in the Asia Pacific, getting hit, pinched, slapped, beaten or kicked by a teacher is still a too common occurrence.

In Papua New Guinea – a country closer to our shores than New Zealand – children are often physically punished at school; at the very place where they are supposed to feel safe to learn and play.

Despite the gathering strength of a global movement to ban it, corporal punishment is still routinely administered in schools in many countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

This is despite the overwhelming evidence that physical punishment in schools inhibits learning and can be harmful to their physical and mental health.

As key indicators of schooling improve in these countries, thanks to domestic investment in education and international aid initiatives, corporal punishment remains an entrenched problem.

Why policy change is not enough

Here in Australia, corporal punishment has been removed from our classrooms through strong legal measures, coupled with a social and cultural shift away from techniques of classroom management which rely on physical punishment, to alternatives such as positive discipline.

But for countries like Papua New Guinea, which have committed to changing policy to prohibit corporal punishment, official policy change alone has not been enough.

A baseline survey completed in 2018 by ChildFund Australia reveals that in one region of Papua New Guinea’s Central Province, over 80% of children reported experiencing corporal punishment. Many of these children reported going to school in fear of being smacked by their teacher.

In many of our neighbouring countries, the acceptance of corporal punishment and its place in the classroom is deeply embedded in generations of families and teachers – just as it once was here in Australia.

When I visit schools as part of ChildFund’s education programs in the Asia-Pacific region, I’m routinely told by children, parents and even the teachers themselves that corporal punishment is common. Many of these parents and teachers were themselves victims of corporal punishment.

Changing cultural norms

Breaking the cycle requires changing attitudes and cultural norms, while also adopting and accepting a new, unfamiliar approach to discipline.

If we are not able to break this cycle of physical abuse in the classroom, another generation of children will grow up accepting that violence is okay, and may be relied upon as a means to resolve future challenges later in life.

Papua New Guineans say that they are deeply dissatisfied with the way their society and their communities handle conflict and the ready resort to violence. Many, however, are yet to be persuaded of the link between violence directed at children at school and in the home and broader, social issues.

ChildFund staff on the ground in Papua New Guinea believe that the cultural acceptance of hitting kids in the classroom can be overturned through sensitive community education and by giving teachers new tools for discipline through contemporary teacher training programs.

These initiatives work to reduce corporal punishment by educating teachers about the negative effects of physical punishment on children, and offering them alternative approaches to use in classroom management.

Safe spaces encourage learning

It is heartening to watch children benefit from learning in environments where they feel safe and valued, have access to high-quality educational materials, and have the support of thoughtful teachers who care about their wellbeing.

But reducing the incidence of corporal punishment will take time, patience and greater investment – in teacher training programs, establishing School Boards of Management, and encouraging greater parent involvement in school administration.

It won’t happen overnight – as was the case in Australia last century. But eliminating corporal punishment in schools is not an insurmountable task, as our experience at home shows.

I look forward to a day soon when children throughout our region can go to school without fear.

About Richard Geeves
Richard Geeves is the Senior Advisor, Education at ChildFund Australia. Originally an educator, Richard is passionate about ensuring access to education for children living in marginalised communities, and international development issues. During his career, Richard has worked with Indigenous communities in Arnhem Land, with primary school teachers in Cambodia, and with development staff undertaking health, water and sanitation, child protection, and education projects in Papua New Guinea and south-east Asia. During his time at ChildFund, Richard has developed and implemented the organisation’s Development Effectiveness Framework, and now provides specialist education expertise to programs in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, PNG and Vietnam.

Tuberculosis is a disease that has been all-but eradicated in most developed countries. Until the global pandemic, it was the world’s leading cause of death from a single infectious agent; it is now second to COVID-19.

Papua New Guinea has been fighting a tuberculosis (TB) epidemic for many years. In 2018, an estimated 37,000 people had contracted TB with around 4,500 people losing their lives to the disease.

Today, PNG is one of only 14 countries classified as having the triple high burden of tuberculosis, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and tuberculosis/HIV.

A convergence of infectious disease

In recent weeks, COVID-19 infection rates have soared in PNG.

This health crisis not only threatens to overwhelm the country’s already fragile health system but means access to other health services is now in serious jeopardy.

In both the capital of Port Moresby and in rural areas, many hospitals and clinics are closing wards or turning people away due to a lack of beds, healthcare workers and necessary PPE (personal protective equipment).

Drug sensitive TB typically requires a 6-month treatment program, with patients visiting clinics for review and to obtain drug scripts.

With access to essential health services interrupted, and the government implementing travel restrictions in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, there is a real risk that PNG could see a rise in multi-drug resistant TB.

This more virulent form of the disease requires a long and expensive treatment program. Patients are typically on a drug regime for a 2-year period, with a success rate of only 50%.

According to the Stop TB Partnership, data emerging from India and South Africa shows that people coinfected with TB and COVID-19 have three times higher mortality than people infected with TB alone.

The Partnership warns: “This makes contact tracing, case finding and bi-directional TB and COVID-19 testing essential.”

Tuberculosis among PNG’s children

According to data from PNG’s National Department for Health, children account for around one-quarter of detected tuberculosis (TB) cases.

However, paediatric cases of TB can be much more difficult to diagnose, and the disease is frequently overlooked in children.

It can be difficult to get sputum samples from young children, and the disease can be more complex, with children frequently developing extrapulmonary TB, where the infection appears in areas other than the lungs.

According to the World Health Organisation, children are particularly vulnerable to TB meningitis, which has only limited treatment options and a much higher rate of mortality than TB of the lungs.

Causes of PNG’s tuberculosis epidemic

Eradicating TB from Papua New Guinea requires improvements in many sectors of society. Overcrowded housing settlements, a lack of education and poor diets all contribute to the spread of the disease.

Dr Daoni Eserom, the executive manager of public health at the National Department of Health in PNG, notes that poverty creates the conditions in which the disease can flourish. He describes the country’s ongoing battle with TB as a “war”.

Dr Daoni says: “We have a lot of settlements, a lot of unplanned housing and all of these are big contributors to TB.

“Malnutrition, especially in kids, is a very big contributor to TB. So is the ability of households to have the resources to actually seek access to healthcare when they’re sick.”

Access to diagnosis and treatment

To get tested for TB, people must often travel to major urban centres, as small, rural clinics lack testing facilities.

Olive Oa, head of health programs at ChildFund Papua New Guinea, says: “A lack of manpower is one of the biggest issues. In some health centres there are one or two staff, and they are doing everything.”

Patients may have to wait hours if not days to be seen, and this may be after travelling for days to access treatment.

Olive is a fierce and determined participant in the country’s battle to fight the tuberculosis epidemic, and to make sure rural families get diagnosed to begin treatment.

She says: “TB is quite difficult to diagnose in children unless someone is really skilled. The immune system of children is not usually as strong as adults so if you don’t find treatment quickly it can become life threatening.”

By integrating TB education and awareness into maternal and child health programs, Olive says ChildFund can tackle a range of issues that help identify and prevent TB in children: vaccinations, weight checks, dietary information, strategies for avoiding infection, danger signs and disease symptoms, and building general household awareness about what to look for and when to seek treatment.

Olive notes that stigma is also a significant obstacle to TB treatment in PNG. She says: “People should not be afraid of those who are diagnosed with TB. The real danger is from those who are undiagnosed and untreated.”

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