One of the largest and most successful educational programs using a pidgin language is the Tok Pisin Preschool program in the Ambunti District of the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. The program is run by Pacific Islands Ministries (PIM) and is co-ordinated by Edward Wiruk, assisted by David Kassen.

This is mainly a two year preschool “bridging” or transitional program which teaches initial literacy in Tok Pisin to children six or seven years old before they go on to English-medium government schools.

Instruction is all in Tok Pisin, and besides basic reading and writing, includes basic mathematics, health and hygiene, cultural activities, religious instruction, social studies, and physical education.

The program was started in the district centre, Ambunti, in 1985 with two schools and 150 students in four classes. At present there are 14 schools with more than 800 students in 25 classes, and a total of 35 teachers, supported by dozens of different villages throughout the district. There are no roads, and transport within the district is nearly all done by dugout canoe up and down the Sepik River and its tributaries. Some schools are more than an eight hours’ journey from Ambunti by motorized canoe.

The Tok Pisin Preschool program is a good example of grass-roots, community-based education. A community originally makes a request to PIM for a preschool to be set up. When the request has been approved, the community selects two people to become teachers and go to Ambunti for the 10 weeks’ training course run by Edward Wiruk and his assistants at the PIM headquarters. The community is responsible for building the classroom (usually made out of traditional bush materials) and paying the teachers.

When the preschools first started, many teachers in the government schools were opposed to the use of Tok Pisin. They thought that the children’s learning to read and write first in Tok Pisin would interfere with their later learning of English. But now, the general opinion seems to be that the Tok Pisin Preschools not only help children to adjust to the government school environment but also actually help rather than hinder the learning of English, as well as other subjects.

Although the popularity of the preschools is mainly due to the success of their “graduates” in the government schools, the advantages of literacy in Tok Pisin are also important to adults. The district is linguis-tically quite diverse, with over 20 different languages. Knowledge of Tok Pisin is nearly universal, and besides being spoken as the lingua franca, it is widely used for reading (in church services) and for writing letters (these days, especially love letters). In fact, five of the fourteen preschools have recently been established in very isolated areas where there are no government schools, and many of the students are as old as 11 or 12.

Contact:

Edward Wiruk
Pacific Islands Ministries
PO Box 41
Ambunti, ESP
PAPUA NEW GUINEA