![]() By Tapua Alu The following incident happened yesterday, 17th March 2020. I was hoping someone more knowledgeable could shed some light on this. I went to drop off my younger brother who is attending Gordon Secondary School. On our way we had a flat tyre(we live at gerehu). It took us awhile to change the tyre. By the time we got to the school it was 8:30am. By than there were about 20plus students standing outside the gate. We enquired with the security guard and he said that the students would not be allowed to enter the school. Not too pleased with his response we went to speak with the principal. However he was in a meeting and was unable to speak to us. We asked a passing teacher if the students could be allowed in, which the teacher replied, saying, it was up to the duty teacher to decide. We walked back out to wait with the students. At 8:53am a teacher walked out to the gate and said " period 1 has started already students, go home!". He turned and walked away. I was going to speak with the teacher but I had other kids and workers to drop off.
My query is this, are schools allowed to send students home for being late? Even if it is a couple of minutes or an hour after 8am? When I attended the said school, I remember we would be let in even if we turned up late at the gate (except if you turned up really, really late). We would either be given detention after school or do clean up for the first period, than be allowed to attend 2nd period onwards. I might not be an expert on education or it's policies, but shouldn't the main goal be to encourage students to attend school and not to turn them away. In PNG, students(children) come from different backgrounds and homes, we might not be able to know whether students have a genuine explanation/for what reason they are late. But if they turn up at the school, isn't that enough to show that regardless of what there reasons might be for being late, they still made the effort to get to the school and thus should be allowed in. I understand teachers are there to mold students and instill in them manners and punctuality and other traits. But to enforce they learn punctuality by turning them away from a whole day of learning for showing up a few minutes late seems abit to harsh. I have heard that this is not the first time this has happened nor will it be the last. I was informed that at a PnC meeting last year parents were advised that their children would be turned away for being late. Although most of the parents voiced their objections in the meeting, it seems the principal and school have decided to ignore them. Attached is a picture of a few of the students standing outside the gate. Share your Inspirational Stories, Education Issues, Education Talk. Let your voice be heard: Send us your stories to us: email : [email protected] Share this
1 Comment
6/17/2020 10:11:47 pm
I am willing to study in your institution as my first priority. Can you please send me a application form.
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
PNG Education Talk : Inspirations & IssuesSend us your Education Viewpoints,questions,quiz. We will publish them here. If you want to answer a question, please click on the "Add comments" or 'Comment' button just below each post.
|