Formal Education

In contemporary PNG, primary education is available in virtually all villages. Community schools (or mission schools) ¹ instruct pupils from grade 1 to grade 6, but formal education is not mandatory. ‘At present, only about 57 per cent of the primary age group receive formal schooling (though the proportion entering grade 1 is higher) and only about 13 per cent of the primary age group go to high school’ (NES 1979:82).