Alpers, Philip. 2005 ‘Access to Basic Services: Education.’ Gun-running in Papua New Guinea: From arrows to assault weapons in the Southern Highlands; Special Report No. 5, p. 105. Geneva: Small Arms Survey, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. 1 July

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In the 2001-02 wars, Mendi High School was gutted by fire, largely because it was perceived by one faction as an asset of the tribe whose land adjoins it.

With each school and town perceived as enemy territory for some, with public transport regularly harassed at armed roadblocks - at which free passage can be granted or denied on the basis of clan allegiance - education in the Highlands has suffered badly.

Now, less than half the country's school-age children are in education. Perhaps nowhere in the midst of poverty and armed violence are the effects more profoundly felt, nor more costly for all, than in the spoiled future of youth.

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