OVERCROWDING in classrooms at Wardstrip Primary School, in Port Moresby, should not be an issue following the opening of three new double complex classrooms last week.
Wardstrip Primary School board of management deputy chairman, Silvenus Vaso said managing a big primary school, with an enrolment of 2,900 students from Grades 3-8 and teaching staff of 54 and 10 ancillary staff, is a mammoth task for the head teacher, the school administration and the board of management. “Wardstrip, in the past, had rundown classrooms, walls infested with termites, rotten floors, broken louver blades, broken toilet pots, leaking water pipes, leaking roofs, electrical problems and hosts of other problems but has dramatically improved its image and infrastructure,” he said. “In 2012, the school board applied through the Department of Education for funding to build new double classrooms and carry out major renovations to existing rundown classrooms to solve the problem of overcrowding in classrooms.” He acknowledge the department for approving the proposal for funding of K1.9 million however only K1 million was released to complete the projects. School board treasurer, Mathew Kulimbao said the Department of Education, through the education infrastructure sector programme (EISP), funded a double storey classroom containing three classrooms at the top and three classrooms at the bottom that includes three teachers’ officers at the top and three at the bottom constructed by the Wap and Co Builders. Kulimbao said out of the K1 million, a mobilisation fee of K200,000 each was paid to Wap and Co Builders and Nation Builders Construction while the remaining K600,000 was paid to Gateway Kepatok PNG Ltd for general classroom maintenance and renovations. “Wap and Co Builders built another double classroom with two classrooms at the top and two at the bottom inclusive of offices while Nation Builders built another double classroom with two at the top and two at the bottom with two office spaces built within.” Kulimbao said the remaining K900,000 is yet to be paid by the government and once paid, the board would use the money to settle the outstanding debts for the two building companies. Comments are closed.
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