Papua New Guinea : Change and continuity in mathematics education in Papua New Guinea

[Extract] Papua New Guinea (PNG) is comprised of the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and around 600 neighbouring islands, large and small. (The western half of the island was claimed by the Dutch as a colony but is currently controlled by Indonesia.) In the late 1800s, the northern part was designated as a German Protectorate and the southern part as a Protectorate of Queensland (part of Australia) by the British government. Both sections were Protectorate or Territory under the Australian government at the end of World War I. The PNG people had no say in any of these decisions. In 1975, PNG became an independent nation. The government is administered through 22 Provinces. It is very mountainous with some volcanic areas, fast flowing rivers, and wide valleys both in the highlands and in coastal Provinces. The majority of people still rely on agriculture, gathering plants, hunting and fishing even if they have jobs in towns and cities and the majority still live in rural villages, generally with only 20 to 100 houses.