Double Classroom goes up in flames

The Ilakaraeta primary school in Kerema town of Gulf Province has lost a double storey classroom in a fire that started in one of the classrooms between 3-4am in the morning.

The double storey classroom was built at the cost of K1.7 million fours year ago and it was used by the grade 7 and 8 students of the school.

Parents and Citizens (P&C) chairman of the school Mr Sam Koraea said it is a big loss for the school and they will need funding from the provincial government to rebuild a new classroom.

“We may need at least K2 million to build another new double classroom as I believe the price of building materials may have increased over the four years”

Mr Koraea said the grade 7 and 8 students will have to use other classrooms, however it will still affect the entire operation of the school.

“What we plan to do is to allow the grades 7 & 8 to come for morning classes and when they go home, the other lower grades can come for afternoon classes until we put up a temporary classroom to replace the one destroyed by the fire”

Meanwhile the Mr Koraea and the teachers are not sure how the fire may have started but the police are investigating.

“At this time, we don’t know whether the fire was caused by an electric fault or arson but we really want some good police work to be done as this is the 3rd classroom in Kerema that has been destroyed by the fire”

A frustrated Mr Koraea called on the police to do a thorough investigation in order to address this issue that will cost the school a lot of money.

PNGFM