On a rainy afternoon in Buin, Deputy Principal Chris Montagne stood intently watching the students heading back to their dormitories after classes. Buin Secondary School established in 1968, is a public boarding school that provides education to 670 students from grade 9 to 12, the next generation of Papua New Guinea. Earlier this year, the school suffered a complete power outage for 10 weeks, after its generators malfunctioned. 

“All the teachers have laptops. But without power, what can we do? We have nothing to do.” Montagne said. The lengthy delay in sourcing a new part for the generators from overseas left some education programmes incomplete.

Such ongoing power fluctuations have caused disruptions to both learning and teaching. Teachers are often forced to shift entirely to manual methods; paper copies, handwritten notes, and flipcharts with makers. Having no power supply hampers efficiency at school. A series of power cuts also damaged several school computers, and it left the digital learning system partially dysfunctional.

The lack of essential infrastructure is a challenge faced by many schools in Papua New Guinea. And it heavily impacts academic performance and student attendance. According to UNICEF’s 2024 annual report, in rural areas of PNG, 23 percent of children aged six to 18 are out of school and in 2019, the enrolment rates of secondary level school were at 20 percent. (UNICEF Annual Report 2024).

That situation will soon change in Buin. UNDP is working with the government, with generous support from the Government of Japan, through the Pacific Green Transformation Project to set up a one-megawatt solar farm. This will provide electricity not only to schools but also to homes and businesses in Buin, powering lives. For now, for Montagne, the wait for that consistent, clean, power supply persists. 

“We work night and day because of the power cut, we can’t complete our work by the end of the day, we always carry over tasks to the next day. That’s the biggest challenge we have. Most of the time we can’t complete our work,” he said. 

Mr. Montagne, a father of four and a teacher for more than two decades, believes deeply in the mission of school education. He knows that education is an essential not just for individual growth but also for ensuring equality, enhancing women’s empowerment, reducing poverty, and driving economic growth. 

“The power (electricity) is the most important need for an educational institution, especially in schools,” he emphasized. Currently the school regulates power use to save on fuel costs from 8:00am to 1:00pm, and from 6:00pm to 8:30 pm. “It’s not enough,” Montagne stressed. The gensets require refueling every two to three days at a cost of about 1,000 kina – about US $237 - per tank, limiting learning opportunities. 

Even within the restricted schedule, blackouts are frequent. “The power goes off even before 1:00 pm sometimes” he added. The disruption especially affects boarding students who rely on evening study. A few students own small personal solar panels that can be used minimally to charge a mobile phone and study late.

For the teaching staff, the lack of power means extra hours of work. “We need to prepare for the next day by using copy machines, but we can’t. This will create extra work for teachers. Sometimes we can’t attend the class because we need to prepare for the lessons,” said Montagne. 

For Mr. Montagne, there is one solution, solar power. “The one reason that we cannot progress is lack of consistent power,” he stated. Delivering reliable and cost-effective clean energy to the school is the top issue. “Bringing power to the school will improve our standard, our focus is to raise our standard. We want to bring our school to another stage. We need stable power to do some extra work. It will benefit learning of student and the work for the teachers” 

Constant power is not an end goal, but it’s an important point to reach the next level, hoping the money saved on fuel costs can be redirected to improving other school infrastructure and buying new computers. 

Mr. Montagne believes that guiding young people to accomplish their goals. Students at the Buin Secondary School aspire to become engineers, doctors, teachers, and accountants. “I believe with hard work and determination, they will achieve their dreams,” he said. “I value developing young people to be educated to foster their mindset. Dealing with young people is enjoyable. Teaching has to come from your heart. That’s my motivation factor.” 

He highlighted his own success with 90 percent of his students achieving strong success in mathematics 

“The last time I visited Port Moresby, my old students came to visit my hotel. I was happy to see my students have progressed and they appreciate what I contributed. If you teach from your heart and love your students, they will remember you. When you mingle with young people, you will stay young. That’s one of the things that I found out.”