Learning without stationery

 MORE than 10,000 pupils in Madang district have started school without the promised government-funded and allocated stationery.

The gear includes learning and teaching stationery which the government contracted Treid Pacific to distribute to schools as part of the free tuition fee programme.

Lutheran Day Primary School head master Peter Sika said the materials were packed in boxes and stored inside four Grade 8 classrooms at his school.

Sika said the materials were supposed to be distributed to selected schools in the district by end of last year or by the beginning of this year.

He said students had wasted money buying stationery.

“The materials are still kept inside the four classrooms and my Grade 8 classes and students have missed classes after school started last week,” Sika said.

He said he agreed to keep the stationery in his school for safety reasons.

Sika said parents of his Grade 8 students who knew about the stationery were questioning when the materials would be removed and distributed.

“I wonder if the Government is aware of what’s happening in Madang?” a parent, Michael Simon, asked.

Mamose regional coordinator for Treid Pacific (PNG) Ltd Eddie Saweni could not contacted for comment but Madang provincial Education director Moses Sariki said Saweni had said the stationery would be removed by Tuesday.

“The materials can be removed but the question is when will they be distributed to the schools?”  Sika asked.