No teachers present at Hela’s Walagu Primary School

HELA’s Walagu Primary School is expected to begin its academic year in May as there are still no teachers at the school due to transport issues, a teacher says.
Grade six teacher Thompson Niave said eight teachers were posted to the school, however there is no helicopter to take them to the school as air travel was the only means of transport.
He said seven teachers were from the Hela area and the head teacher from Eastern Highlands. To reach the school by foot will take about seven days from Tari and with cargo and children they simply could not make the journey.
“I was one of the victims during the kidnapping of the 17 females last year, I was chased by gunmen in the school and fled with other teachers, resulting in the school closure,” Niave said.
He said he was hoping to get posted to another school in the province only to be sent back to Walagu and he eventually agreed to the offer regardless of security issues.
Southern Highland’s Bosavi community leader Nelson Tepa said most of the primary schools like Mt Bosavi, Muluma and Fogomaiyu had two to three teachers teaching grades three to eight.
Many teachers after filling the resumption forms gave excuses about the poor location of the school and did not resume duties.
Niave said Bosavi being located between Hela and Southern Highlands and sharing borders with Western and Gulf, needed proper road access in order to solve its issues.
“The PNG LNG and Kutubu Oil projects situated near Mt Bosavi and Mt Sisa, it’s almost 40 years since its operation in 1992 and there is no development in the area from the two developers and the Government. “No proper road links in the area and people continue to suffer,” Niave said.