Students opt to live in school

FOURTEEN-year-old Esther Rueben is one of 50 students from Kawaran in remote Nawaeb, Morobe, who has to cross two fast-flowing rivers to get to the nearest primary school.
The eighth grader said her school, Bandong Primary, was a half-hour walk from the village.
However, due to safety issues associated with walking the distance, former head teacher Colin Korin said the school had allowed some students from grade three to eight to live at the school premises during weekdays.
Rueben said parents and guardians had built them traditional huts on a small portion near the school administration building.
“We live in respective family groups but our huts are partitioned so males and females use separate sides of the building and we use the school toilets and shower for ablutions,” she said.
“Every Friday, we return home for the weekend and on Sundays, we come back to our school huts with our week’s food and firewood supply.”
Rueben said other students from villages farther away like Munengan (an hour’s walk) preferred to reside at their respective villages and walk to school every day.
Korin said the school needed proper dormitories to house students who wished to reside on campus.
“From what I’ve seen, their learning ability is disturbed when they walk for distances,” he said.
“Kawaran students have done well by residing on campus but they are living in run-down traditional huts.
“Proper dormitories will greatly improve student learning and the school has plans for a dormitory but due to its financial capacity, this dream seems too far to reach.”