A boy’s dormitory at Porgera Secondary School in Enga Province, got burnt down last Tuesday by students as a result of been denied food supplies. Deputy Principal, Mr. Amos Amail, said that the boarding students had no food provided for them on Monday and Tuesday which led them to burning down the dormitory out of frustration.
Mr. Amail said that there was no valid reason nor an explanation to why the school mess had no food supplies to feed the students, but blamed it on the school principal for failing to provide the food rations.
“A week before the incident occurred, the students were sent home by our Principal due to on-going tribal fights advising them to stay home for a week. When the students returned back, they saw that there was no food provided for them for two days causing them to burn down the dorm.”
He said the students responsible were arrested that day by the police but were later released an hour after whilst two students are still locked up. He added that the dormitory which caters for thirty two students will now be an issue in terms of accommodation.
“For now, most of the students have fled and are currently away from school due to the tribal fights so most of them are not attending classes at the moment.”
Amail however expressed his concern as to how these particular students will be accommodated once they return back to school.
He added that despite the tribal fights, classes are still on- going with only a few students attending. He said this issue is out of their hands and cannot force students to attend classes.
He hopes the situation can be slowed down so that it doesn’t affect the students’ studies.
Photo credit: Sherii Wembii FB account