Monday 29th May 2023, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea || On the 5th of May 2023, Digicel Foundation in partnership with the Department of Education and Bilum Books launched the Assessment Report for the Literacy Enrichment and Education Development (LEED) Program that was piloted in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ARoB) and Central Province. The aim of the LEED Program is to improve literacy outcomes for students in Elementary Schools. An important component in the program is the training up teachers to know how to use the Bilum Books Standard Based Curriculum for English teacher guides and student books. The Bilum Books SBC English is an all-in-one literacy program designed to teach the skills of English to students no matter their mother tongue.

Digicel Foundation commissioned the literacy assessment to provide evidence as to the effectiveness of the program. The results contained in the report are findings from a 10-month literacy assessment involving 789 elementary students in 32 elementary schools in ARoB. This was done by comparing the performance of students from schools using the Bilum Books SBC English program with students from schools not using the program. The findings proved that the anecdotal evidence that the elementary teacher using Bilum books improved students’ learning reading and comprehension across all strands in the standard based curriculum while the control group comparatively demonstrated lower outcomes.

The attendance of the Deputy Secretary Curriculum and Standards, Mr. Paul Ainui and the representatives from the Education Department were present to receive the report. In his remarks, Mr. Paul endorsed the reports as an acceptable evidence that more of such literacy enrichment programs like LEED need to be taken in schools throughout Papua New Guinea to help improve the low level of literacy.  

Digicel Foundation CEO Serena Sasingian said that in order for any program to be sustainable we must work closely with partners from Government and schools with strong governance and leadership.

‘’It is through partnership and commitment that we can all strive together for a better education system in our country. Digicel Foundation values its partnership with the PNG Education Department and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville Division of Education, Bilum Books, LEED trainers, the students, teachers and administration of the participating schools. It was through the collective efforts of everyone mentioned that made this report a success.’’