Education in Bougainville-Buka: Site of struggle

Education in Bougainville-Buka must be understood as a site of struggle in the critical sense that it has been perceived and implemented in the context of political, theoretical, and moral conflict. Although the impact on the people is sometimes alluded to in the analysis of policy makers, the decisive control of material resources, pedagogy and curriculum has for the most part remained in the hands of government administrators. It has often been suggested that educationists and anthropologists should work together in Papua New Guinea. This essay will question the underlying premises of this proposition, and focus on an appreciation of how people themselves analyse their situation and formulate educational directions for their communities.