A lack of security in Kwamki Lama, following a prolonged communal conflict involving two ethnic groups, has forced the relocation of students from two elementary schools so they can take their exams.
The 96 students of SD Inpres Kwamki Satu and SD Yayasan Pendidikan Persekolahan Gereja Injili elementary schools in Kwamki Lama, Tuesday, took the exam at SD Ebenhaezer in Timika, the capital of Mimika regency. The exams will run until Thursday.
“We took the advice from the school and the exam committee because the condition in Kwamki Lama is not conducive to holding the exam,” student, Den Magai of SD Inpres Kwamki Satu, told reporters on Tuesday.
Den said it was impossible to have the exam at his school because it was located next to the conflict site.
Den’s schoolmates, Merlin Mom and Meliana Magai, said they wanted to have the exam in their own school, but sporadic fighting between the two warring groups tribes gave them no option.
“We feel uncomfortable here. We are just trying to do the exam well so we can pass,” Merlin said.
Merlin also said the teaching and learning activities in her school had not been disrupted due to the
conflict.
“We have not been able to concentrate on our classes as the fear our parents will attack one another always haunts us,” she said.
“We hope the conflict will soon come to an end so that our first to fifth grader schoolmates will also be able to study well.”
Headmaster of SD Inpres Kwamki Satu, Markus Leme, told reporters Tuesday that he was forced to move the students to SD Ebenhaezer school to take the exam in fear conflict might disturb them.
“We provided taxis to transport the students to and from SD Ebenhaezer,” he said.
Until Tuesday, police were still guarding the Kios Panjang area as a precautionary measure. Clashes erupted early this year between people from Gapura, known as the lower group, and those from Mambruk complexes, known as the upper group.
The conflict has continued sporadically with the most recent incident causing two to be injured by arrow shots.
Police said the clash stemmed from an unpaid compensation demanded by the lower tribe for a rape allegedly committed by a man from the upper group.
Clashes between tribes are common in Mimika, home to one of the world’s richest gold mines. A protracted conflict in 2006 killed 18 people and another in Kwamki Lama claimed eight lives in 2007.
