Authorities close Lae school

By PISAI GUMAR
A SCHOOL in Lae has been closed after provincial government authorities deemed it unsafe for students and teachers.
Head teacher Willie Vilakiva and the teachers had no choice but to send home the 1869 students attending the Huonville Primary School on Monday. Vilakiva said the closure would disrupt classes in the second term which started on Monday.
Officers from the health, education, fire and physical planning divisions concluded after an inspection that the facilities built in 1962 badly needed renovation.
There are six four-in-one buildings accommodating 24 classes from grades 3 to8.
“The school needs K37 million to implement its redevelopment plan to build 12-in-one classrooms. But with no funding, our fallback plan is to build eight-in-one classrooms which will cost K1.3 million,” Vilakiva said.
Parents are giving K50 each to build the new classrooms because the school said it had not receivedd its tuition fee free infrastructure component.
“The Lae district administration had advised us that our TFF infrastructure component from 2013 to 2017 was never paid to them,” Vilakiva said.