Pausa head denies having space woes

By YVONNE HAIP
NORMAL classes have started at St Paul’s (Pausa) Lutheran Secondary School in Wapenamanda, Enga province.
Principal Gary Mark said students were now into their third week of classes, unlike other schools which delayed the start of classes for at least a week.
Mark said this while responding to claims that more than 200 students had been sent home because of a shortage of classrooms and dormitories.
Wapenamanda local level government president Nick Andake had claimed that four classes of
Grade 9 students had been sent home for two weeks because of the lack of infrastructure.
He had claimed the students would stay home until the school management finished building bush material classrooms and dormitories.
Andake said the school needed the help of the government and education department.
Mark said Andake’s claims were  fabricated as the school did not face any problems with infrastructure.
He said there were enough classrooms, student living areas, and sufficient facilities to cater for the increasing number of students each year.
“No student has been sent home, they are all in class, and Pausa does not face any shortages as claimed,” he said.
He said it was impossible to send Grade 9 students home when the school did not offer boarding for Grades 9 and 10.
This year, the school offered boarding for Grades 11 and 12, while all Grade 9 and 10 students were day scholars.
The school’s first Grade 12s graduated in 2007, and over the past four years, students had done well academically.
Mark said the comments made were politically-orientated.
 “If they want to play politics, do it outside of school and do it in the right way”.