Students fear for safety, leave college

CLASSES at Kokopo Business College have been suspended indefinitely and students have begun returning to their home provinces.
Three students who flew out of the province on Friday told The National that they had to leave Kokopo as the situation was still unsafe after the clash between students of the college and local Ulagunan youth last Monday which had left three youths dead.
The three male students were among 136 students from Morobe who were assisted by their provincial government to return home due to the incident.
James Amos, a first-year student studying diploma in business management, said they were grateful to their provincial government for rescuing them.
Some students left on Friday while others travelled over the weekend while the rest are set to fly out this week.
Amos said the incident had traumatised many students and many would find it hard to focus on their studies.
“The school will reopen for the 2022 academic year completion but we do not know if we are going to come back and that’s very sad,” he said.
“We are innocent students. We are here for a purpose to complete our studies what happened just broke our hearts.”
Second-year student Jeffery Linga added that the incident had disrupted their education and many were concerned about their safety despite guarantees by the provincial authorities and the college administration. Provincial administrator and provincial education board chairman Wilson Matava said his office was talking with the Department of Higher Education Research Science and Technology to re-open the college.