Addiction to digital devices addressed

By Suli Martin Jnr

Excessive use of digital devices like smart phones and iPads to access social media has become a problem for students at Divine Word University.

The issue of students spending too much time on social media and less time on school work was discussed in a recent program held on campus. Rex Makusia, an Information Communication Technology staff in the university, spoke to students on ‘Digital addiction’.

Makusia said students have become addicted to their smart phones, social media and internet because they use it to entertain themselves when they are bored whilst others use it as a way of interacting with their friends. He said a few use it as a means of doing schoolwork.

He said the excessive use of mobile phones and social media such as Facebook consumed a lot of time compared to the time spent in doing school work.

Makusia said digital addiction affected the students’ academic performances.

DWU clocks 50 years

A banner celebrating DWU 50th anniversary as an institution.

Divine Word University celebrates 50 years as an educational institution this year.

DWU began in 1958 with two Divine Word Missionaries, Archbishop Adolf Noser and Fr. Paul McVinney, wanting to carry onthe Society’s traditional involvement in tertiary education in areas to which its members were assigned.
In 1964, a 99 year lease was secured on an old rubber plantation and negotiations for funding began with the Government.Failure to secure government assistance for a university project forced the SVD planners into a reassessment of their commitment and led to the development of a Catholic coeducational high school.

Fr. Kenneth Feehan, SVD, became the director of the project in 1967. As headmaster for the next 14 years, he shaped its development and philosophy. The high school, with an enrolment of almost 600, emphasised academic excellence and self-reliance and consistently ranked in the top 10% of PNG high schools.

The Society undertook a feasibility study in 1977 to look into the possibility of returning to its original idea of tertiary education. The encouraging results of this study led to the phasing out of the high school and the gradual development of a tertiary level University.
In 1979 students began enrolling in four-year diploma programs in Business and Communication. The first class of pioneer students graduated in 1982.

On November 13, 1995, Fr. Jan Czuba SVD became the fifth President of Divine Word Institute and the founding President of Divine Word University in 1996. It was established by an Act of Parliament as a University in 1999.

Team informs on 2019 referendum

By Elijah Chapok

A consultation team has gone around PNG visiting Bougainville communities and students to carry out awareness on the Bougainville referendum for independence last week.

The Referendum Awareness and Consultation team aims to clarify doubts on the Bougainville’s referendum, which will take place on 15th June, 2019.

“The main purpose of them coming is to inform us the people about the progress and also clarify doubts and understanding so that we know what is going on. After all, it is the people who will determine whether we get independence or not,” said Mahiana Millie, a Bougainville student representative.

Mahiana said after the awareness program that he was positive that the Bougainvilleans could look after themselves as a country.

“On the first day of the awareness, I was having doubt, but after the second day of clarifying things, I can say that we are ready,” said Mahiana Millie.

MP visits Open Day

By Thomas Dilu

Divine Word University students showcased what their faculties offered during the university’s annual Open Day on May 6.

 Among those who attended was an alumni of the university and Member for Madang Open Electorate Bryan Kramer.

Mr Kramer said it’s been so long since he left Divine Word Institute and coming back to see students putting out a wonderful display of their departments and what they’ve learnt was really good.

Head of Communications Arts Department Dr Alphonse Aime, said that the targeted audience for this event was the high schools and secondary schools’ students. However, he said he did not come across such groups because the event was on a Sunday.

 “However, the day was really interesting with lots of people from all kinds of professions and students in all the booths are well dressed and well mannered,” he said.

Lorengau hospital needs a surgeon

By Pamela Barara

Director for curative health services at Lorengau General hospital in Manus province has called for fair distribution of medical personnel throughout the country.

Dr Otto Numan spoke of his experiences and challenges working with limited resources at Lorengau General Hospital and its rural health centres during the 54th medical symposium in Madang recently.

Dr Numan said the hospital currently did not have a surgeon since the passing of Dr Lunn in 2016.

He shared some memorable moments and successful surgeries carried out in which he had to improvise during emergency procedures due to the lack of resources, and not having any experience in surgery.

“Without surgeons, certain surgery may become not only risky but frightening as well,” he said.

Challenges faced by the hospital include having to care for the need of the population in the province and the refugees which has put pressure and a burden on hospital staff.

Dr Numan said the province had ten health centres and only two were accessible by road and others by boat.

The furthest health centre takes two days to travel by sea and is often very dangerous during rough weather.

“It is unfair that some small hospitals have three or more surgeons while Manus province doesn’t have one.”

“I am calling for a fair distribution of surgeons throughout the country”.

Dr Numan also said there were currently vacancies for a surgeon, an anesthetist and a gynecologist at the hospital.

Digicel builds new towers

By Anton Selve

New Digicel towers will be installed throughout Madang to replace old towers from April onwards.

Digicel’s Logistics and Land surveyor Philip Munnul said that the new towers would bring the best quality of network to the people of Madang.

Mr. Munnul explained that the new towers could carry more signals at a faster rate compared to the old towers.

“The old towers were German made; they carried a lesser wave of frequency as compared to the new towers.”

He also said that the old towers were harder to install due to their size, and they carried less frequency in comparison to the new American manufactured towers.

He also said that Madang was an ideal location to install the new Digicel towers, due to Madang’s geography.

Mr. Munnul added that they had finished installing towers in Lae and in Port Moresby and would proceed throughout Papua New Guinea, after Madang.

“Madang is a paradise for equipment such as the new Digicel towers. Madang has the sea, rugged terrains and even grasslands, the perfect location to install and to test the range and frequency of Telecommunication towers.”

WWF launches marine project

By Betsy Wranan

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) launched a new project to support the local communities in and around Madang.

 WWF Country Program Development Manager Kafuri Yaro said that the WWF project was to support the local communities in establishing locally managed marine areas that were very important in managing the local resources.

Mr. Yaro said WWF was an environment and conservation organization which was in more than one hundred countries and had been in PNG since 1995.

He said the “Living with Change’resilient mangroves, fisheries and people of PNG projects”, was a kind contribution from the people of Germany through the funding of their Government.

The event was witnessed by ward members from the districts, LLG presidents, the provincial administration, NGO partners and other groups in Madang.

The WWF project is located along the north coast in the districts of Madang, Sumkar and Bogia.

Scholarship funds delay worries DWU

By Anton Selve

A Divine Word University vice president is concerned about the delay in Government paying scholarship funds.

Vice President Student Services Ted Alau said that the Government scholarship funds or the HECAS funds were usually paid for the full year prior to the start of an academic year at DWU.

He said however, this year the government had not paid unlike the previous years.

“We are still waiting, they paid for the first semester but not the second,” he said.

Mr. Alau also said that the university may close down due to the lack of funds.

“We are a Catholic university, we make do with whatever funds that we have, God willing we will get through this without having to stop school,” he said.

He explained that the scholarship fund was a vital resource that could sustain the university for the whole year.

Mr Alau said that the students were at the top of DWU’s priorities, and while the reasons behind the government’s delay of fund were none of his concerns, he believed that God would always provide.

Lands’ files thief caught, thanks to CCTV

By Pamela Barara

A man has been apprehended and handed over to the police after he was caught on CCTV footage breaking and entering into the Lands and Physical Planning Department Head office in Port Moresby on February 2.

General Manager for PASS Security Services in Port Moresby Thomas Barara said that after screening the closed circuit television (CCTV) surveillance footage of the break and enter, the suspect was seen stealing files.

 Images of the suspect were printed and put out around the city from which the public then identified the man and eventually led to his capture and arrest.

The suspect later identified two employees of the Lands and Physical Planning Department that were involved in the crime. All have been apprehended and handed over to the police.

Mr. Barara said the theft was believed to be in line with the ongoing investigation of the Manumanu missing land files in Central province.

Nine suspended for alcohol abuse

By Charley Piringi

Nine students have been suspended from Divine Word University (DWU) for alcohol abuse.

Vice President Students Services Ted Alau confirmed the suspensions on Friday.

He said that the school was now getting tough on dealing with disobedient students as they wanted to produce professional and ethical students.

“So far, nine students have been suspended in relation to alcohol related matters,” Mr Alau said.

“Whether you take alcohol on-campus, or off-campus, mind you if caught,  we’ll serve you immediate suspension.”

He acknowledged that this year has started-off well, and students’ behavior has been so good for the past few weeks.