160 Grade 8s may miss exams

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
ABOUT 160 students may not be able to sit for their Grade 8 examination next week as they have been ordered to vacate their New Erima Primary School in Port Moresby for health reasons.
The NCD Health Department has ordered the school board to shut it down after it failed to comply with a 21-day notice to improve conditions.
The students have been using temporary classrooms after a fire in March.
The school’s deputy chairman Jeffrey Kelage said yesterday that they had appealed to the Education Department, the MPs and parents for assistance but to no avail.
“We are now appealing to the public to help,” he said yesterday.
He said it was a “crisis situation” and that the department and MPs should have sought emergency funds.
Mr Kelage said parents were reluctant to provide assistance as the school had collected a total of K310,000 in school fees and education grants at the beginning of the academic year.
“That money should have been spent to upgrade the deteriorated buildings.
“That was why they voted out the old board last March. And we have also referred them to the National Fraud & Anti-Corruption unit (NF&ACU) for investigation,” he told The National.
NCD Education Division assistant secretary Tau Nauna said he appealed to the NCDC health inspector not to condemn the building while he organised some repairs.
“He agreed with me but other people are going at the back of me and are advocating for the school to be shut down,” he said.
The four makeshift classrooms use strips of timber and bricks for walls and metal sheets for roofs.
Students sit on the floor as there are no chairs and they have to share desks.
Mr Kelage said there was no fencing, and vandalism and theft had been rampant.
He said anyone wishing to contribute money could deposit it into the school’s general account at the ANZ Waigani branch (number 127-188-69).
He said they could also contact headmaster Litau Pokatou on 6911424 or board chairman Simon Eyork on 6858796 for further information.
NF&ACU director Chief Supt Mathew Damaru confirmed that they were investigating the complaint.