report from the National 7th Nov, p1.

200 hungry students go home
By PIUS MON MORE than 200 starving Grades nine and 11 students from Kitip Secondary School in the Western Highlands province were forced to go home yesterday due to food shortage at the school. It is understood funds allocated for food had been diverted for other purposes, leaving the students with no rations with almost a month of the school year left. The frustrated students came into the city and demanded education authorities in at Kapal Haus to look into the matter.Student leaders claimed they had missed out on their daily meals for weeks, and on occasions, had only one meal a day. They also claimed said water and electricity supply to the school had been cut. They complained that lack of school materials also meant they could not do their schoolwork and assignments. The student leaders said they started experiencing this problem at the start of term three, and decided they could not go on like this. There are reports that situation was further aggravated when the school’s principal and his deputy allegedly had a fight over the weekend, resulting in a vehicle windscreen being smashed.The student leaders claimed that staff and some student leaders had taken sides with the school’s administration in the problem. Superintendent for secondary, high and vocational schools said the Education Department will look for ways to help with food supply to keep them going for the next two weeks. The Education Department was aware of the school’s problem and was working on how best to solve the issue.There had been allegations of misuse of funds at the school, a complaint which has reached police in Mt Hagen. Criminal investigation division team leader James Nianga said Kitip Secondary School was one of many schools in the province, which had reports of maladministration and misappropriation. He said his men had visited Kitip secondary to follow-up on the complaints, but the school’s administration had blocked them and promised instead to provide a report. Mr Nianga said his office was still to receive this report.