School fights worry pastor

By GABRIEL LAHOC
THE worsening rivalry among schools and violence among students in Lae is very serious, a senior Lutheran pastor says.
Rev Elymas Bakung said all Morobe parliamentarians, the Department of Education, churches, teachers, parents and community leaders should collectively tackle the lawlessness.
Bakung said there were no practical approaches to curb the school fight culture.
He said if it was allowed to continue, it would affect generations of Morobeans, create educational barriers and hamper development in the province.
Bakung, who is the patron of University of Technology Morobe students, said no research had been done to provide information on output of the children in Grade 12 in all the secondary schools in the province.
“Most of these students are Morobeans who do not even think about their own future and considering the magnitude of such attitudes, it indicates that if there is no proper approach taken then there can be no such thing as human resource development for Morobeans,” he said.
Bakung said the burning down of a dormitory at Bumayong Lutheran Secondary School signalled the seriousness of the moral and spiritual decay in the lives of the students not only at Bumayong but all other secondary schools in Lae.
“Satan is fighting and no Morobean should take this issue lightly.
“This is a call to all those in positions to take the issue of school fight seriously.
 I call on all those reputable people to stop passing the buck and be responsible as Morobe human resource development is at stake and no one should dispute this fact,” he said.
“The answer to deal with this problem is to collectively approach this issue, do not rely only the education office,  police and schools.”