State of schools, a concern

A SENIOR Catholic Priest in Papua New Guinea has expressed concern for the state of school infrastructure around the country, especially in the rural areas.
Fr Giorgio Licini, who is also the general secretary for the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG and the Solomon Islands, said infrastructural problems were common in all schools around the country.
These problems include damaged classrooms and ablution blocks, rundown dormitories and the shortage of power and drinking water in rural schools.
He said these problems contributed to the students’ education.
He said the lack of guidance afforded to the students was partly to blame for the state of some of these infrastructure.
He used Mainohana Catholic Secondary as an example, recounting his visit to the school in Bereina, Central, over the last term break, saying: “Almost 40 teachers and 600 boarding students are crowded in a place which suffers from regular shortage of power, water, accommodation facilities and poor hygiene.
“The disorderly and filthy status of the dormitories and the ablution blocks was the result of neglect.”
He said some of the teachers may be demotivated and upset.
He added that while the teachers’ residential area appeared to be well maintained, almost all houses needed to be renovated while some were abandoned.
Fr Giorgio said help was needed from the surrounding communities, the local diocese, the government or any donor organisations so that the education standards did not fall in rural areas like these.
He said deteriorating roads, airstrips and wharves contributed to leaving schools in rural areas even more isolated and neglected.
“PNG still falls tremendously behind in education (and) things are getting worse,” he said.
“New large pockets of illiteracy emerge, we need to save our schools.”