KTF supported students graduate from Sacred Heart Teachers College in Port Moresby

After years of dedication to learning and to their communities, today Anna Juary and Wari Kila Pondo graduate with their Diploma of Primary Teaching from Sacred Heart Teachers College in Port Moresby.

KTF first met Anna and Wari in 2012, when they took part in a volunteer teacher-training workshop at Kokoda College. For more than a decade since, we have had the privilege of walking alongside them as they worked toward becoming fully qualified teachers.

Between 2012 and 2016, Wari taught on a volunteer basis at Gorari Elementary School, while Anna volunteered at Sengi Elementary School in her home community of Kebara. At a time when Oro Province was facing a critical teacher shortage, KTF supported their salaries so they could remain in the classroom, teaching the province’s youngest learners.

When national education reforms required teachers to upgrade their qualifications, Anna and Wari returned to Kokoda College to study through Flexible Open Distance Education (FODE). This pathway allowed them to continue teaching, support their families, and study at the same time — a demanding balance they met with determination and resilience.

Their commitment paid off. Both achieved the GPAs needed to enter tertiary study and secured highly competitive places at Sacred Heart Teachers College.

Today, Anna and Wari graduate as fully qualified teachers, ready to strengthen access to quality education in the communities that shaped them. Both have already secured positions close to home: Anna will begin teaching at Illimo Primary School, and Wari will join Kokoda Primary School.

KTF currently supports four students from the Kokoda catchment with scholarships at Sacred Heart Teachers College. Alongside Anna and Wari, Emmanuel Kerahu and Cornelius Pondo will enter their final year of the Diploma of Primary Teaching in 2026.

Cornelius is one half of Gorari Elementary School’s dedicated teaching partnership. Working alongside his wife, Wari, they have provided foundational education to nearly 200 Prep, Grade 1 and Grade 2 students in any given year. Like Wari, Cornelius volunteered for many years and upgraded his results at Kokoda College to gain entry into tertiary study.

Emmanuel began volunteering as an assistant teacher at Gorari in 2018. After completing his FODE studies at Kokoda FODE College in 2021, his scholarship now enables him to take the final step toward his dream of becoming a qualified teacher.

As Anna and Wari return to the classroom, they carry with them not only qualifications, but lived experience, perseverance, and hope. We look forward to seeing the impact they will continue to have - inspiring future teachers, and delivering the quality education every child deserves.