wrong as school for ‘men’?

“They ate a breakfast of wheat-meal cakes with jam and hot tea in the mess and then listened to the morning news on 9LA as they prepared for lessons.
“Some boys were rostered each day to keep the area around their dormitories clean and tidy.
“They wore government-issued white cotton drill shirts and navy or khaki shorts. Assembly was at seven sharp and no one, absolutely no one, was ever late.
“The assembly area in those days was to the right of the main drive-way into the school, in front of Jack’s office and the small staffroom, which was quite inadequate for a staff of 24.
“After assembly, English master Charles Cazabon, and his staff, would take all the form one students to the two messes for 20 minutes of English language drills, while the other students went straight to classes.
“Students were punished for speaking their own village languages and Tok Pisin.
“They were required to speak English at all times and were reported to the principal by the prefects if they did not.”
During lessons, Amesbury would often suddenly appear at a classroom window and take all the boys – Bugandi was a boys’ school in those days – and the teacher, out to work on the school farm or some other task.
“Classrooms had usually 25 double-desks accommodating up to 50 students per class.
“Sometimes there was a cupboard and for the teacher, there was a table – but no chair.
“Jack Amesbury didn’t like his teachers to sit down during their lessons.
“Some teachers would sit on a desk or even on the table but would always keep a wary eye out for an approaching principal.
“If you were caught sitting during a lesson, you could expect to be scolded in a way that only Jack could manage, and in front of your students, too.
“Lessons for the students finished at 1pm and were followed by lunch, usually consisting of kaukau, other vegetables and soup. The boys rostered to mess duty helped the cooks to serve and clean up.
“The school was divided into four houses and one house had to do work parade one day per week, all afternoon, until about 4.30.
“Some boys worked on the farm or caring for the flower gardens, some cut grass with their sarips (grassknives) around teachers’ homes, while others cleaned the ablution blocks.
“Some boys worked on special projects like building the new swimming pool, or constructing the fish ponds, the new chapel/assembly hall or the tractor shed, while others ran the school tuckshop operated by the Bantin Co-operative Society, whose president was Utula Samana.
“Selected boys helped Charles Cazabon in the library and others helped me to print T-shirts in the art room. After work parade, the students could relax until dinner or perhaps do their laundry.
“Dinner consisted of rice, instead of kaukau, and some green vegetables like aibika or spinach with some bully-beef or tinned mackerel.
“Immediately after that, from 7pm until 9pm, the boys went for night study in their classrooms, supervised by duty teachers.
“No one could be late or absent without a good reason and the duty teacher would count the students present in each room.
“Following that, the students were then free for an hour but had to be in bed by 10pm, lights-out time.
“The students could go into Lae town with permission on Saturdays and Sundays but they had to be back in their dormitories by midnight on Saturdays and 10pm on Sundays and the duty teacher and prefects would be waiting to catch those who might be late.
“There was usually a small group of boys up for punishment on Monday mornings for being back late.
The school, according to Murrell, had 20 prefects appointed by Amesbury and presided over by the school captain and his deputy.
“These two students were in control of over 300 boys who not only studied, ate, slept and worked but who also took part in such things as debating, art activities, the Cadet Corps, first aid activities, scouting, civil defence, preparing the school magazine, the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, traditional dancing, the organisation of the annual school mumu, and of course, sport.
“They played rugby league, Australian football, hockey, basketball, cricket, volleyball and baseball.
“Many teams from all over Lae played in a rugby league competition held at the school each Saturday and every Bugandi student was required to take part.
“On Friday nights, students watched a 16mm movie flown over from George Page’s store in Port Moresby, movies like Elephant Walk or Giant.
“During that first year and during the three further years I taught at the school, I cannot remember any boy not working hard to prepare for his future.
“In the late sixties, it was not easy for a boy to go to high school and boys who were selected used their chances wisely. They knew that any boy who didn’t follow the Bugandi way of doing things could be immediately dismissed and sent back to his village.”