Classes in Morobe Province have been suspended for a week.
Morobe’s Provincial Program Advisor for Education, Keith Tangui, said the board has decided that classes will resume on July 25th, considering teachers are involved in the electoral process, and election-related violence has been increasing.
“A lot of problems are brewing and fighting and burning of ballots and other things so we are giving them 1-week extension today.”
Tangui further spoke of the damages sustained by Markham Valley secondary during the riot on Saturday, saying the Electoral Commission is only hiring the venue.
“Whoever did damages to the school did not take into account that it’s their property,” he stated.
“It’s the community’s responsibility to look after it but somehow they damaged all the properties up there.
“We’re not happy with the way they destroyed the school and jumped over the fence and wandered into the mess and damaged those things.
“We are warning them that any further destruction of properties or assault of teachers, we will close the school and the students won’t be allowed to transfer to other schools in Morobe. We will stop that.”