‘Student numbers causing lateness’

The issuing of late transcripts to Madang Teachers College students is because it enrolled too many students, a staff member says.
Last Friday, the student body went on strike in protest over the prolonged delay in issuing academic transcripts.
A report in The National said students were only given transcripts of the last trimester. The school only has three semesters for the year.
A concerned staff member who did not want to be named said the college could only cater for 460 students.
“We have 942 students, which is double what the school can hold and what a teacher is capable of having in a class of a normal setting,” the teacher said. 
“We, the staff, have many problems in relation to marking examinations this year because there were some unnecessary programmes between trimester two and three, which disturbed the normal academic year,” he said.
He blamed college principal Stephen Potek for turning a blind eye to the “very high enrolment”, saying that was creating down-time in other priority areas.
The source stressed there were 10 year-one and year-two classes, exceeding the normal staff-student ratio for teachers colleges.
He said many students enrolled at the college had not followed correct procedures and that some did not have Grade 12 certificates.