More than 300 students will not attend classes for the rest of the year and 16 families remain homeless following the burning down of the St Francis Takubar Primary School during the early hours of yesterday morning.
This is probably the first time a school property was burnt down by people in East New Britain Province.
The school lost its classrooms that accommodates Grades 2-6 classes, its administration building, students academic record books, 800 chairs and desks, water tanks and lawn mowers and brush cutters.
These buildings were all burnt down and properties stolen by raiding settlers of Niu Radaaz camp at the back of Takubar, leading to Livuan village in the Kokopo district.
This has triggered retaliation from the nearby villagers who stormed into the settlement and burnt down 16 houses and also damaged vehicles and properties within the vicinity of the settlement.
Those people who rent houses in the area were forced to pack and seek refuge elsewhere under heavy police presence and returned when the situation cooled down.
According to eye witnesses, a passenger vehicle carrying mothers home two days ago was attacked by the settlers and the women were stoned.
If that was not enough, the settlers entered the school area that same afternoon and started destroying the classrooms.
They left that afternoon but returned the next day between 5am and 6am and set fire to the classrooms and the water tanks.
This resulted in retaliation from enraged villagers who chased the settlers and set fire to the 16 houses.
Yesterday morning, women entered the school mourning the loss of classrooms as the school was built following their cries to help the communities of Ramale, Livuan, Bitagalip and Kabaleo.
Children as far as Tokua, Takubar ward, Takubar industrial area and even those at the settlement at Niu Radaaz also attend classes at the school.
The school was built in 2019 with the help of the Kokopo district administration under the leadership of current MP Emil Tammur.
The new buildings at the school by the Kokopo district administration were saved by the villagers.
Police have attended to the scene and arrests will be made soon, however, the future of more than 300 children remains grim.