School Library Program
Millionth Book
Most schools in PNG do not have a
school library or significant library collection. This makes it much
harder for children to achieve higher levels of literacy, and for them
to learn about the world. English is often a second or third language
for the students, but as PNG has so many languages (over 700) English is
the sole language of education after Year 2. Donated library books are
therefore very useful.
The HOPE
worldwide (PNG) School Library
Program has now distributed over 1.5 million books to over 1,200 schools
all over the country. Currently we are providing around 500 books to
each primary school, and 1,000 to each high school. Schools are provided
with a range of fiction, non-fiction, and reference books at appropriate
reading ages. Workshops are done to train teacher-librarians, and
manuals given out about how to manage a library collection. The costs of
the program are covered by NZAID. Books are provided by the
Book Drive
conducted each year in Sydney Australia. The program is run in
partnership with the National Library of PNG. Computer classrooms are
also established – see
IT Program.
