Morobe schools resume July 1

CENSUS will not affect the resumption of classes for term three in Morobe because the children’s education takes priority, says provincial education adviser Keith Tangui.
Tangui said all teachers and students in the province were to resume classes on Monday (July 1), despite Education secretary Dr Uke Kombra releasing a circular instructing schools to have an extra week off in light of the ongoing census exercise.
Tangui said all educational activities were calendared and the provincial education authority and stakeholders were of the opinion that following this was crucial to effectively delivering education services.
“The census is very important for the country, where students must be with their parents at home to be counted properly,” he said.
“We understood that, following circular instruction No.07 for the changes to the education calendar for terms 2, 3 and 4, and sent
students home for the term two break.
“The term two break will end this week, however the census team has not been able to visit the majority of areas and this is a concern for many parents.”
Tangui said all teachers, including those who volunteered to assist the census team, were to resume classes next week to start the third term.
“We understand that Morobe is a big province, and it will take time for the census team to collect data, but our concern is our children’s education,” he said.
“If the census team want assistance, they can write to my office and I will assign some of my officers from the education division to assist them, but teachers are not going to take part.”
He said the changes, such as students staying home another week or teachers taking part in the census exercise, were a decision that would be made by secretary Kombra and Education Minister Lucas Dekena.
“If it’s for the individual province to decide on this matter, then the (Morobe) provincial administrator Max Bruten, as the provincial education board chairman, will make the decision on this,” Tangui said.
But as the provincial education adviser, Tangui said schools in the province would be expected to resume classes on July 1.