Aligegeo school pleads for support to build new hall
FORMER King George Sixth School now Aligegeo Provincial Secondary School (PSS) in Auki, Malaita Province is in dire need of a new dining hall and the school is now appealing for assistance.
The old Aligegeo dining hall which was burnt down in 2019 was also used as the school assembly hall.
At the moment, the school is operating without a dining hall and an assembly hall.
For the past two years, Aligegeo PSS students continue to have their daily meals in the open.
And during bad weather, all the students have been affected as they have nowhere to seek shelter except at their dormitories or classrooms.
This is now the current desperate need of the school which has groomed most of the nation’s leaders during its heydays, it was highlighted.
The school has now entered week three of the 2021 academic year and the lack of a proper dining hall is an issue that has got the school administration pleading for support.
Aligegeo School’s new Principal, Alick Bebesia told Solomon Star Auki that while the school has started at the right time according to the 2021 Academic calendar, the lack of a proper dining hall is letting the teachers and students down.
Mr. Bebesia said, seeing 520 students having their daily meal in the open for the past three weeks is not only challenging but also emotional.
“Seeing the former King George continues to operate under deteriorating infrastructure without much being done to improve the school’s infrastructure in the past is just sad.”
He said form 7 students will join the school at the end of this month which means more students will be having their meal in the open.
Due to the sad experience, Mr. Bebesia is calling on the government through its responsible ministry and other funding partners to step in and fund a new dining hall for the school.
The principal said, he only wished that the government did the same upgrade it did to the current King George School to the former School.
“I call on the government of the day through the Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development (MEHRD) and partners to help us construct our new dining hall so that our students can at least have their daily meals on a table under a proper roof.”
Asked about what the general status of the school infrastructure is like, he responded by saying staff houses and classrooms also need upgrading.
By WILSON SAENI
Auki News Bureau
