Lower Primary Education
Primary education in PNG covers the grades 3 to 8 and is divided into lower primary, grades 3-5 and upper primary grades 6-8. There are separate syllabuses for upper and lower primary. Under the reform all primary syllabuses will be outcomes based.
In lower primary students progressively move from the vernacular or Tok Ples to English as the main language of instruction. This provides special challenges to lower primary teachers in PNG as a grade 3 teacher could have students in the class who speak different vernaculars, none of which might be the same as that of the teacher. CRIP and the Department of Education provide special inservice assistance to teachers to help them with bridging to English.