National Capital District Universal Basic Education in 2019
National Capital District (NCD) comprises of three electorates, Port Moresby South, Port Moresby North East and Port Moresby North West. In each of the electorates, there are elementary and primary schools and the information provided are based on records from these schools. In total, there are 42 elementary schools and 41 primary schools. NCD population enjoys the facilities such as schools with required amenities and infrastructure such as roads and transport system that supports access to education. The 2011 census estimated a total population of 364,125and this accounts for 5% of PNG’s total population.
Figure 1 Access Rate
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Figure 2 Cohort Retention Rate
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Figure 3 Examination Pass Rate
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Explanatory notes
Figure 1 shows the access rates and it is alarming because the percentage of children enrolling in elementary prep (64%) is lower than the percentage of six to 14-year-old children attending basic education (97%) and also the cohort retention rate (112%). This shows that there is a decrease in the admission of six-year-old school-aged children in elementary prep. Ideally, if NCD is to achieve the UBE, then we expect net admission rate to be much higher than the overall net enrolment rate and cohort retention rate. The district has a lot of potential to perform better. Although the district is privileged to have access to education services and should set a benchmark and model for all districts in Papua New Guinea, education access for six-year-old children into elementary school needs a lot more effort. About two thirds of six-year-old children are enrolled in elementary prep.
Figure 2 shows that the cohort retention rates (CRR) would be difficult to calculate given the high rates of migration to Papua New Guinea’s capital city. The cohort retention rate is 100 percent if there are no dropouts. This normally occurs in an efficient education system. However, in the case of NCD, the CRR is 126%, which is over and above 100 percent. This implies that there are some students repeating, more students transferring into NCD due to economic activities, parents’ employment opportunities or parents are just looking for better services, particularly in education.
Figure 3 shows the examination pass mark and it shows that the learning outcome in the district is well above the national average. However, there are still lots of rooms for improvement
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
For more information on the status of the universal basic education, Click on this Link.
