Earlier this month, two students were injured during group fights at Bugandi Secondary School, forcing authorities to suspend classes.
Last week, police dispersed fighting students at the Malahang Technical High School, and 85 of them, were arrested and charged.
Lae Metropolitan Superintendent Ivan Lakatani, has warned that police will now carry out mass arrests on students involved in school fights, in an attempt to put an end to this ongoing problem.
“We have done enough awareness in schools. Anything happens, we’ll just move in to arrest,” says Lakatani.
In 2012, a grade 11 male student was killed in an attack by members of a rival group, from the Bugandi Secondary School.
Last year, during another fight, a policeman shot dead a Bugandi student, and severely injured another.
It has been a growing concern for the public including parents, and provincial authorities, as academic results have been declining over the last couple of years.
“Parents must play responsible parts in the discipline of their children as they spend money for their children, to go to school and get educated,” the Met Supt said.
The stand by police to conduct mass arrest is to curb down on the increasing law and order problems that are happening in the city.
School fights have been happening at bus stops, and public places in the city, and police are taking a stern approach to end it.
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