Villagers build classroom, teachers’ houses for remote school

National

By EREBIRI ZURENUOC
A PRIMARY school located in a remote station on the borders of Morobe and Eastern Highlands will for the first time open permanent classrooms and teachers houses built by villagers.
The Andakombi Primary School in the Yelia LLG in Obura-Wonenara district of Eastern Highlands was established in 1989 with semi-permanent infrastructure which had deteriorated since.
Teacher Kude Kol, who walked for two days from Andakombi Station to Menyamya station in Morobe just to catch a PMV to Lae, told The National on Friday that the opening of the classrooms and teachers’ houses will be on week five of term two.
“The primary school is one of the remotest and disadvantaged schools in the Yelia LLG,” he said.
“It is the only level four primary school with eight teachers, and is located on the borders of Morobe, Eastern Highlands and Gulf. It has well over 400 students.”
Kol said since the school was established in 1989 as an elementary school, up to when it received its primary school status in 2010, “this institution has not received any funding from the provincial PSIP or the DSIP grants under successive governments.”
“However, we are grateful for the current assistant secretary of the education division Thomas Jonduo and former governor Mal Kela Smith, who gave K100,000 each.”
“A K65,000 portable sawmill was bought at Agmark Goroka and a four-in-on classroom and five teachers houses were constructed, but the buildings are not yet opened because we ran out of funds.”
Kol said the landowners and villagers were “very supportive and have given trees to be logged and milled” to improve the school infrastructures.
“Currently, selected parents have made available 60 logs from which a two-in-one library, a computer and science laboratory, administration block and four-in-one classrooms will be constructed – all at once,” he said
“Villagers with carpentry skills have already been contracted this month to start construction.