Former school principal’s return upsets parents

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Friday 15th February, 2013

PARENTS and guardians of students attending Yangoru Secondary School in East Sepik have been urged to concentrate on education rather than the row over the principal’s appointment.
Some members of the community had rejected the re-appointment of school principal Samuel Pongiura which resulted in the setting up a roadblock and clashes between various factions.
Disgruntled parents had been protesting Pongiura’s return for the past two weeks, claiming it was under his administration that the students performed poorly.
Lawrence Paramie, a community leader at Baimuru village in Yangoru, said parents should not blame the school for poor academic performance recently.
He said there were circumstances that could have contributed to their poor results.
“We must understand that there are three types of learners; we have the visual learners – those who can only see and learn, the auditory – those who can hear and learn and we have the kinesthetic learners who can only feel and learn.
“We should not blame the school or principal for a decline in the  number of students gaining entry to universities,”
he said.
Paramie said parents should also be blamed for using their relatives in the system to allow their children to continue to Grades 9 and 11 despite failing their examination.