Papua New Guinea's Population and Housing Census 2020 was launched last weekend with a call for help from teachers.
Papua New Guinea Minister of National Planning, Richard Maru, in Wellington, 1 May 2018. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
The government said the census would provide key information on population and housing to allow the government improve basic services.
At the launch, the National Planning Minister, Richard Maru, said public servants such as teachers living in the districts would be trained to conduct and deliver the census.
He called on district administrators and chief executives to make sure this happened.
"They've got to utilise all the teachers in all the primary schools in all the districts, to get them trained up so they can deliver the census for us," Mr Maru said.
"This is a challenge of the way we are going to change the way we do business. The people who will carry out the census are people who located in districts and Local Level Government areas."
PNG's Prime Minister James Marape said the census was an important for evidence-based planning and decision making.
The result of the census would help the government at all levels by enabling institutions, development partners and relevant stakeholders to provide programmes and activities that improve service delivery systems, he said.