07 May 2023
Kwarea Community High School (CHS) in West Kwara’ae with a population of over 900 students, the second highest number of student enrolment in Malaita, closed on Wednesday this week following threats and demand on the school for money by landowners.
Information reaching Solomon Star Auki claimed 32 teaching staff employed at the school could no longer stand the threat and pressure from landowners and now wish to be posted to other schools.
When Solomon Star Auki followed up on the story with the Kwarea CHS Principal, Clay Ata, yesterday, he confirmed that the school has closed indefinitely due to the actions of the landowners.
Principal Ata said the staff held a meeting on Wednesday at which they decided to close the school for the safety of teachers and students alike.
He said the threat and demand for money has been an ongoing thing and the teaching staff no longer felt safe at the school and thus their departure.
The school principal said the over 900 students who have been enrolled at the school this year will be affected as their rights to education have been denied due to undue pressure from the landowners on teachers for money.
Principal Ata said they do not know when the school will reopen and he can only hope the issue is addressed soon so that teachers can return and resume classes for students.
He said the sooner the school reopens, the better it is for students, especially for those in examination classes so as to prepare them for their soon-coming exams.
The Malaita Education Authority (MEA) is aware of this as officers from MEA also joined a Parent-Teachers meeting held at the school recently to discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, parents of Kwarea CHS are calling on the landowning groups to do the honourable thing by allowing the school to operate as normal to allow students to attend classes.
A spokesperson for the parents said the education of their children is a stake from the actions of the landowners and called on the landowning groups to reconsider what they did.
Source - Solomon Star News.
Comment
Education is a fundamental right and the reported closure of Malaita's second largest school having more than 900 pupils is an abuse of those rights. I don't know what provisions are contained in the Education Act or other local legislation for some degree of arbitration to resolve the demands of the squabbling landowners, but in 2023, it seems that landowner rights remain, as they always have been a real setback to the development of the Solomon Islands.
In a letter yesterday, I talked about putting the needs of others first, but clearly the landowners in question need to have such an important lesson.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
