Packed classrooms concerns teacher

CLASSROOMS at a school in Nipa-Kutubu, Southern Highlands, are overcrowded by students who enrolled in the second term, a teacher says.
Daniel Mapun said Det Primary School, which the provincial government planned to upgrade to a high school, was facing a far worse situation than other rural schools because students were going there without transfer certificates.
It is understood that most of these students had been out of school for many years, some of whom had become parents but want to further their education because of the free education policy.
Mapun said when teachers checked student rolls on some occasions, there were new students.
“The students are not coming with transfer cards but are coming straight from their homes, making it difficult for the teachers to assess them,” he said.
“To send them away is another problem because most of them are from the area and would rebel against the school.”
Mapun said it was their right to be enrolled at the school but what complicated matters was their transfer to the school in the beginning of the second term.
He said the school did not have enough desks for all students and had limited teaching resources which were stretched to provide for the students.