Pupils to stay until end of term

The Eysturoy pupils who recently found themselves caught in a municipal crossfire will be finishing the school year at the við Løkin school in Runavík.

The Mayor of Runavík Municipality, Torbjørn Jacobsen, has sent a letter to the boys’ parents informing them of the decision to let the pupils stay at the school until the end of term.

This came on the back of a dispute between Eystur Municipality and Runavík Municipality about payment for the boys’ schooling.

Mayor Jacobsen, had set last Friday as the deadline for Eystur Municipality to pay for the boys’ schooling.

Eystur Municipality, which does not have a lower-secondary school, has made a school arrangement with Fuglafjørður Municipality, and it refuses to pay for pupils attending schools outside of these two municipalities, Jóhan Christiansen, the Mayor of Eystur Municipality, said last week.

Mayor Jacobsen wrote in his letter to the five boys’ parents that as of the start of the next school year, Runavík Municipality demands an upfront guarantee of payment for pupils coming from outside of Runavík.

“We are not going to continue asking our own taxpayers to finance the schooling of pupils from other municipalities,” he said in the letter, adding that Runavík Municipality always pays for the schooling of its own children when they attend schools elsewhere. The most recent example of this is two pupils attending the school in Strendur.

The við Løkin school in Runavík will close for the summer holidays on 26 June.

Translated by prosa.fo.