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Schools in Chimbu review the SARV Curriculum in the TOT workshop
🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea /Culture & Society

Schools in Chimbu review the SARV Curriculum in the TOT workshop

From Post-Courier · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Teachers from five primary schools in Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea, participated in a workshop to review the Sorcery Accusation Related Violence (SARV) curriculum.
  • The workshop focused on how schools have implemented the curriculum and shared adaptation strategies, emphasizing reflection and peer learning.
  • The SARV initiative, a partnership involving the Melanesian Institute, aims to educate students on the dangers of sorcery accusations and promote rights-based responses to eradicate SARV from the belief system.

Educators from five primary schools in Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea, convened in Kundiawa for a Training of Trainers workshop. The gathering focused on reviewing the implementation of the Sorcery Accusation Related Violence (SARV) curriculum in classrooms. Teachers from Anigl, Dindim, Memaugl, Mengagle, and Mirane primary schools shared their experiences and strategies for adapting the lessons.

The workshop emphasized reflection and peer learning, allowing each school to present its approach to integrating SARV themes into their teaching programs. Mrs. Dekene of Mengagle Primary School highlighted how her school has developed a steady, term-long program, weaving SARV concepts into subjects like Christian Community Education and Values (CCEV). This integration aims to instill an understanding of SARV issues among students.

We include what we can into the subjects we are teaching, especially with Christian Community Education and Values (CCEV) and other subjects just to bring out the idea of SARV to the students.

— Mrs DekeneTeacher from Mengagle Primary School explaining how SARV themes are integrated into the curriculum.

The SARV program and curriculum are a collaborative effort between the Melanesian Institute, the Catholic Diocese of Kundiawa, and the Simbu Division of Education. Its primary goal is to equip students with knowledge about the dangers associated with sorcery accusations and to foster safer, rights-based community responses. The initiative seeks to fundamentally address and eradicate SARV from societal belief systems.

Mr. Mondo, the RE Coordinator for Catholic schools in Simbu and a facilitator of the program, identified Chimbu Province as a hotspot for SARV. He stressed the importance of implementing the curriculum in schools to educate young students about rejecting SARV activities early in life. This initial group of schools represents the first phase of the rollout, with plans to expand to other schools in the province based on the progress observed during this reflection period. The outcomes of this training will guide future curriculum dissemination and support ongoing efforts to combat SARV.

This is the first group of schools we have worked with. After seeing the progress from this reflection, we will move to other schools.

— Mr MondoRE Coordinator for Catholic schools in Simbu and program facilitator discussing the rollout plan.
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Originally published by Post-Courier. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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