Parent: Time elections with school schedule

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Tuesday July 30th, 2013

 By ELIAS LARI

A PARENT in Western Highlands says elections should be timed so that they do not interrupt school timetables.

Michael Wamp, from Welia village in Mt Hagen, said he was disappointed to see children missing classes because of the local level government elections.

Wamp said his son in Grade 11 at the Hagen Park Secondary School and daughter in Grade 10 at the Notre Dame Secondary School had to stay at home because their schools were closed.

“This is totally wrong because education is a must for every citizen and no one should stop it,” he said.

“This LLG election is affecting the normal school programme and I do not know when students will return to school.”

He said education was more important than the elections and it was unfair to force students to stay at home when they should be in school.

Wamp said the Government and the Education Department needed to make proper adjustment to every election timetable in future.

He suggested that elections be held during school holidays so that students were not affected.

Wamp blamed the Government for not providing enough funds to conduct the elections, resulting in many problems.

The Electoral Commission was reported to be giving serious consideration to cancelling the LLG elections in parts of the Highlands region due to these problems.