School faces alcohol woes

 By JUNIOR UKAHA

ABOUT 95% of disciplinary problems at Wawin National High School in Markham, Morobe, are alcohol-related, a senior teacher says.

Deputy principal in charge of administrative matters, Pal Pu said this during the school’s graduation ceremony last Friday.

Pu, who calls himself the school’s “prosecutor”, said he had found out most of the students facing disciplinary action at Wawin had committed offences while under the influence of alcohol. 

He said Wawin was one of the six State-owned national high schools in the country and was trying its best to address the problem. “I have been keeping records of students’ discipline problems and found that most of the cases brought to my attention were traced back to the abuse of alcohol,” Pu said.

He told parents, guests and students that from the 200 students enrolled, only 169 graduated. Others left school because of issues, including discipline.

“For parents, who bring their children to Wawin, you must know that we don’t allow alcohol,” Pu said.

Pu compared alcohol to a disease, saying it could spoil children’s future, and told parents it was their responsibility to ensure their children stayed away from alcohol and concentrated on their schooling.

Pu said Wawin had improved in terms of discipline with a drop in number of students offences. 

He said the school’s vision was “academic excellence and good citizenship” and the school was striving to achieve that.