Hela Province Universal Basic Education in 2019
Hela is a newly established province that shares a mountainous northern border with Enga Province, northern most end of Southern Highlands Province and borders Western, Sandaun Provinces coupled with rugged mountain range and gorge running through the middle. The province comprises three districts; Komo/Magarima, Koroba/Kopiago and Tari/Pori. There are 12 LLGs in the province. In 2011, the population was about 249,449 with a growth rate of 2.7% from 2000. The province accounted for 3.4% of PNG’s total population. Komo/Magarima District is the most populated district comprising 39% of the population followed by Tari/Pori (32%) and Koroba/Kopiago (30%). Of this population, there are about 41,059 school-age children (6-14 years old) in the province in 2019.
The province has 256 elementary schools and 82 primary schools. Education provision across the four districts varies. Where the physical and economic environment is conducive for certain pockets of the population, positive progress is more likely to take place. Access to basic education is enhanced through improved infrastructure such as roads for in the province.
Figure 1 Access Rate by districts
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Figure 2 Cohort Retention Rate by districts
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Figure 3 Examination Pass Rate by districts
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Descriptive notes
Figure 1 shows the access rates of 52 percent and provincial distributions show satisfactory performance in access rates. About 5 out of every 10 six-year old children are enrolled in elementary prep in 2019. Tari-Pori and Koroba Kopiago Districts have to improve and put in more effort in enabling all six-year-old children to enter first grade of basic education to improve the provincial average.
Figure 2 shows that the cohort retention rates (CRR) of 73 percent for the province and the province’s performance in the cohort retention rate are outstanding. Generally, the province maintains high cohort retention rates. Koroba/Kopiago retain more students in school until they complete basic education. On the other hand, many students are leaving school in Komo/Magarima and Koroba Lake Kopiago districts before completing Grade 8. These two districts need to improve their cohort retention rates in order to enable more students to complete grade 8.
Figure 3 shows the examination pass mark is estimated at 61 percent and all districts have shown exceptional performances in learning outcomes that can be considered satisfactory. Provincial average has demonstrated exceptional performances in students’ learning outcomes that is considered satisfactory. The challenge would be to maintain the foundations and challenge each other to work towards achieving better learning outcomes in education.
Technical notes
Access to education refers to the number of 6-year-old children who are enrolled in elementary prep expressed as a percentage of population of 6-year old’s of school-age population which is 6 years to 14 years.
Cohort Retention Rate refers to the number of pupils who successfully completed an education cycle as a percentage of the same group of pupils who started the first grade (elementary prep) of the cycle earlier. A cohort retention rate of 100 percent, or all children who started first grade, completing final grade is the target.
Grade 8 Examination Pass Rate refers to examination mean as an estimate of the average achievement in the subject and is found by dividing the sum of marks scored by the number of students. Each examination is out of 50, hence the sum of the three subjects is 150. The average score of the three subjects is divided by 150 and multiply by 100 to get a percentage score. The target would be 100 percent.
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