Govt funds may not be enough, teacher raises concern

By JIMMY KALEBE
FUNDING from the government to schools may not be enough to provide all the safety equipment needed now that students have returned to classes after the initial lockdown, says a primary school teacher.
Busong Primary School head teacher Camilus Keto said the little funding that the government had made available would soon run out and it would be left to parents to provide face masks, gloves and sanitisers for their children.
He said one obvious cost-effective option was for parents to buy or make reusable face masks for their children.
Keto said despite his school being in a rural area (Labuta LLG, Nawaeb, in Morobe), they were fortunate to have bought hand-washing equipment, masks and practice social distancing as well as having classes in shifts since schools reopened two weeks ago.
“Currently, eight staff in the school are at work, every working day to make sure over 250 students from grades three to eight comply with all safety measures in place during the shift teaching periods,” Keto said.
“Twenty students are required to take classes in the morning and the other 20 or less in the afternoon.
“Through that, the students are able to settle in well with the new normal practice but their learning phase is slow with teachers teaching fewer lessons.”
He said the school would have new toilets replacing their old pit toilets.
“A World Vision project in the school has seen eight new toilets built in the school,” he said.
Keto said the school’s infrastructure needed to be renovated.