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A fire has destroyed two buildings at Père Guéneau Vocational High School at Bourail in New Caledonia just one week after the beginning of the school year.
It is the fourth fire at the Catholic school in the past five years.
The police are investigating the cause of the fire – arson is suspected.
One of the buildings housed a staff room and the computer equipment for the school.
The second building contained the Centre of Culture and Knowledge which was opened last year.
The Centre is the only one of its kind in a school in New Caledonia.
Karen Cazeau, director of the Diocesan Directorate of Catholic Education (DDEC), said it was a place where all the young people, the educators and the teachers constantly rubbed shoulders.
Cazeau said she was there to see the damage and to support the team.
“It’s a feeling of discouragement that predominates. There have already been fires in this high school, it’s sad.”
18 months ago the repair of two fire-damaged buildings cost about CFP40 million ($NZ 560,000).
Père Guéneau high school has 364 students from all over the country, more than 60% of whom are boarders.
The boarders were allowed to return to the school on Sunday, and classes resumed for all students on Tuesday.
The DDEC has 71 schools: forty-eight kindergartens and primary schools, thirteen colleges and eight vocational high schools.
In all, nearly 14,000 students are in school.
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