NCD schools start off year

By ADRIAN MATHIAS
TEACHERS in the National Capital District resumed duties yesterday to prepare for the start of the school year next Monday.
The National visited a number of primary, secondary and national high schools in Port Moresby to find most teachers turning up at work and filling their duty resumption forms while the senior teachers, including the head teachers and principals, were in meetings, allocating each of their staff a class or subjects to take starting next week.
St Peter Channel Primary School at Gordon was busy and head teacher Carmel Torombe said she was happy with her 42 teaching staff, who turned up yesterday and filled their resumption duty forms.
Only one was still in East New Britain due to the temporary closure of Tokua Airport.
Torombe said tea­chers were happy to start classes next week but the problems facing the school were shortage of classrooms for the 572 elementary students and the subsidy funding for the school.
She urged the education department to provide details verifying subsidy payments for the first and second quarter of last year, although she said they were advised of the payment last November.
The schools visited included Gerehu primary, Port Moresby national high, Gordon secondary, Bavaroko primary, Don Bosco Technical secon­dary, Badihagwa secondary and St Peter Channel primary.