Education & Training Services

Background

The Education and Training (E & T) section of Research & Growers Services Division (R&GSD) within the Coffee Industry Corporation was established in 2008. It was found to be necessary to establish the E & T section given the CIC’s goal to educate the youth, the future coffee farmer with the knowledge and skills to live a meaningful and purposeful life through coffee production, processing and marketing.

Prior to the establishment of the E & T section, the R&GSD was responsible for Research, Extension and Training functions only. Extension has the connotation as being responsible to linking coffee knowledge and skills to adult farmers only. Training being the narrow focus of education was to impact skills to the wider informal population of coffee farmers and these functions were not geared towards the education (broad focus) for all citizens and using the formal education system.

Function

The establishment of the E & T section provides education on coffee
knowledge and skills in the broadest sense and is geared towards
education of the future coffee farmers. It is envisioned that by
educating the future generation of coffee farmers, it will make
the job of extension easier, and a more radical view would be that
coffee extension and training can become a thing of the past or be
made irrelevant within the CIC.

Upon establishing the E & T section, two main tasks were conceptualised and were to be accomplished as the outcomes for the section. First, the primary purpose was to develop, print, trial and expand to schools through the country a coffee curriculum. This goal could not be accomplished without the support of the National Department of Education (NDOE) and the University of Goroka (UOG). The NDOE has the responsibility on curriculum matters in schools in the country while the UOG has expertise in curriculum design and implementation.

The second purpose is to support the implementation of the coffee curriculum in schools with the establishment and operations of a coffee college. The coffee college is to be established and operated by the CIC to provide the education and training of teachers who will teach the knowledge and skills of coffee production, processing and marketing. Without the coffee college to support the coffee curriculum, it is felt that the coffee curriculum will not bring about the desired outcome of the planned coffee curriculum.

 

 

 

Updated: May 17, 2010