Governor Rapa calls for immediate investigation on school protest

Western Highlands Governor, Wai Rapa has condemned the school protest staged on Thursday in Mt Hagen by a senior secondary school in the province.

Governor Rapa said in a phone interview from Port Moresby said his government is prioritizing quality education as its paramount agenda for service delivery and for him to stay away from the province and hearing the incident is not acceptable.

Rapa also said while the protest has turned nasty resulting in a death, he is deeply sorry and urged those in authority to carry out an immediate investigation into the death as well as the protest and enlighten the public and the province as to what really happened.

Governor Rapa said this is a first of its kind to happened in the province and for schools to take the law into their own hands is uncalled for.

The concerned Governor is sympathizing with the deceases family and tribe and said he too does not have any idea of what really happened and wanted an investigation team from the Provincial Education Board and police to get into this situation that has got way out of hand.

Governor Rapa said his government has and will continue to give priority to education in the province, and all stakeholders must also play their part in supporting and strengthening the education system in the province and not to jeopardize it in such way like protests, schools' fights or any other negative activities.