Education officials ‘fail’ teacher in Western Highlands Province

By SENT TIMBI

A high school teacher from East Sepik Province who was stranded in Mt Hagen after provincial authorities failed to provide his leave entitlements was man-handled by thugs and robbed of everything in his pockets.

Nolbert Ozwald Kami from Gawi along the Sepik River is a mathematics teacher at Kombolopa High school in the Western Highlands Province.He should have flown out with his family last week but due to delays, he hung around in Mt Hagen, where he was attacked.

Thugs held him up at the Queen Elizabeth Park in Mt Hagen at around 7pm on Wednesday and walked away with his purse that contained K200, a bank card, leave documents, wrist watch and his mobile phone.

Disgruntled teachers fronting up at the Central Education office for their leave entitlements

“I should have been enjoying Christmas with all my families, friends and loved ones at my village. But due to no leave entitlements, I was stranded here with my family when I was attacked,” he said.

Mr Kami blamed the provincial education leave fare committee for prolonging the leave fares for teachers from other provinces who would only be travelling by air and sea.

“I’m a victim of the poor co-ordination by the provincial leave fare committee.
“I nearly lost my life at the hands of criminals. Kombolopa High School ended its operations last month because the school was located in a very notorious area which was a fighting zone in the Baiyer district.

“I have been in Mt Hagen for the last couple of weeks with my family, living with wantoks (friends) and was waiting for my leave fares but nothing was coming,” Mr Kami said.
He said the education authorities blamed teachers for not performing their duties but last year, teachers did their part by placing Western Highlands Province in the second spot at the nation’s mean rating index (MRI) for high school and secondary schools.

“We did our part to provide the best education in the province while the provincial authorities failed us with our leave entitlements,” Mr Kami said.

Source: Post Courier

*** Teachers work tirelessly to implement the government's education reforms and should be given a fair treatment. The 'leave fare' saga is an on going issue and needs to be solved amicably within the education department to avoid such disappointments among teachers. It seems that no one in the education department is paying attention to this issue.

This depicts a lack of foresight and poor administrative organization in the provinces where most of the teachers are affected. This is an issue that needs to be given priority prior to the closing of the schools for the year. It's getting worse and worse every year because somebody is not doing his or her delegated duty.