Headmaster of Waigani Primary School in NCD, Moses Modakewau confirmed that teachers involved in polling did not return to teach after polling was completed. Instead, he said, they took on other roles as presiding officers.
“This has created a gap in the resumption of term 3. Those teachers who are involved in the counting are missing from the classrooms. Because of the enrollment in many schools it is higher than previous years the administration of schools, example in Waigani Primary School, we had about 3 teachers in counting within NCD and another three probably in their provinces. We found it very difficult to take up the normal lessons in the classrooms because of the numbers,” he added.
The situation has led both student and teacher absenteeism, and so classes were disrupted in the first week.
In the second week the Secretary for Education suspended classes for another week for the safety of both students and teachers.
“Our stand in the schools is to teach our children (as) leaders of tomorrow. But we cannot teach when our teachers are involved in another job,” Modakewau said.
Vice President of the PNG Teachers Synell Ko’ou said, “PNGTA has a big membership and (teachers) number one priority is to be in the classroom and not anywhere else.”