Kokopo school receives funds for fencing project

By ROSELYN ELLISON
KALAMALGUNA Primary School in the Kokopo-Vunamami urban local level government was the proud recipient of a K32,000 cheque from ANZ Bank on Thursday for the school’s fencing project.
ANZ Kokopo branch manager Dessie Buka and merchant specialist Philip John Makin presented the cheque to head teacher Mark Petelo in front of students and staff.
Makin said the bank, parents and the surrounding community had been fundraising to help the school with a fencing project.
He said he had been coordinating fundraising drives within the school and ANZ branches around the country.
Makin said the bank’s branches helped by selling raffle tickets with a grand prize of K5000, since they began the drive last April.
Buka said the fencing project came about due to break-ins at the school and the theft of important equipment such as computers and vandalism of school property.
She said break-ins that occurred last year forced the school to suspend classes for a week so that criminal investigations could be carried out.
She added that the incident affected the grade eight students as they were preparing to sit for their national exams.
“We also received reports that some teachers and their families were held-up with either guns or knives within the school grounds last year and valuables such as cell phones, bilums, wallets including cash, taken from them,” Buka said.
“The school has become a public walkway for everyone including the surrounding villages over time.”
She said after consulting with parents, staff and teachers, ANZ took the initiative to raise funds for the project.