Poor living standard affecting children’s education, say Lae’s evicted families

By EREBIRI ZURENUOC
FAMILIES living in a government house after they were evicted from a piecec of land they had been occupying in Lae are complaining about poor living conditions due to overcrowding.
Chairman of the Sialum Camp Yato Aquila said the poor living conditions were affecting children’s education. The house has been a temporary home to 89 children whose families were displaced from the Sialum Compound at Bundi Camp following an ethnic clash in 2015.
The provincial government allowed them to live in the government house.
Aquila said eight of the children who were in Grade 8 last year failed to make it into Grade 9.
“The reason being the environment the children are living in is not supportive of their education and learning,” he said.
“The displaced community here has already identified the problem of children dropping out of school and those not wanting to go to school.”