Education Minister Jimmy Uguro says he has instructed the department to collect information on students affected by the eviction exercise in Morata, Port Moresby.
Uguro said they wanted to know how many Grade 8s, 10s and 12s lived at the Morata One area so the department could help where necessary.
I’m concerned about the welfare of school-aged children, especially those sitting for the final exams in the coming weeks.
Mr Uguro
Uguro urged parents to ensure they secured permanent settlements so such exercises wouldn’t affect their children in future.
A school principal yesterday confirmed that the National Capital District education division was collecting data from all the schools in the city to confirm the total number of students who were living at Morata.
Gerehu Secondary School principal Besoko Aguna said his staff were putting together the data from the school to submit to the district education office.
NCD education services acting assistant secretary Sam Lora is requesting all schools in the city under the national education system to send data on the total number of students from Morata.
The timing is just bad for our students and also some teachers. Especially when the examination grades have national exams all lined up for the three consecutive week starting with the Grade 10s last week.
Mr Aguna
Aguna said despite the fact that a good number of students lived at the affected area, they managed to arrive at the school before 8am to sit for the exams.
He said more than 200 Grade 10 students at the school had sat for the exams.
Gordon Secondary School deputy principal academic Saju Francis said they were yet to confirm figures, but the school administration was aware of the challenges facing students and teachers from Morata.
Most of our students reside in the affected area but they still managed to come and sit for their exams.
Mr Francis
Deputy principal James Hape said two of their teachers had not been attending classes since Monday because of the evictions.
Two of our teachers had to join dismantling their houses and relocating all their building materials to their relative’s residences before coming to school.
Mr Hape