by Sylvester Gawi – EM TV, Lae
Over the last three years, Bugandi Secondary School in Lae has been greatly affected with violence between student.
Since the death of a student in 2011, the school’s academic performance has significantly dropped.
School authorities say that while provincial authorities continue to neglect Bugandi, the future of it’s 300 grade 12 students remains in danger. Bugandi Secondary School has been in the limelight in Morobe Province over the last eight months, due to school violence.
Classes have been suspended at various times, as teachers tried to deal with the issue. Despite this and many others challenges associated with cult-like activities, the school has struggled over time for one purpose. Which is to see students graduating at the end of every year.
While much of the blame has been levelled against the school’s administration, provincial authorities have fallen short in helping to solve Bugandi’s ongoing problems. With more than 1,700 students, the school needs total cooperation from the provincial government in putting more money towards rebuilding the school.
The impact of school violence has not only traumatised students, but has also affected student selection opportunities to attend tertiary institutions around the country.
While this has been an ongoing funding problem, grade 12 students sat for their examinations this week. They’ve adopted an optimistic attitude of moving forward in education, despite the negativity. The Morobe Division of Education, the provincial government and other responsible authorities have miserably failed to address Bugandi’s problem.
Bugandi can no longer continue its backlog of problems, as it may have a severe impact on student learning. Its school violence issues have to be addressed in due course if the government wants to see more students graduating to tertiary institutions.
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