adminThe nine were suspended on Wednesday last week following a week-long disciplinary hearing at the school.
The school head, Mr Nkululeko Zidla and the District Education Officer, Ms Virginia Sibanda, visited the PED’s office at Mhlahlandlela Government Complex yesterday morning to report the matter.
Mrs Mnguni said the disciplinary committee would within 14 days compile a report of its findings, which her office would use to draft the suspension letters for the pupils.
“I can confirm the issue, as you can see they are here to brief me about it. But, none of them has been served with a written document to that effect as yet,” she said.
“What I can say is that there is a disciplinary committee at the school but they should now within 14 days make a decision and write suspension letters according to Circular P35, which would be sent to parents stating the offence and status of each pupil.”
Circular 35 deals with enforcement and administration of discipline at school where pupils should be suspended for alleged misconduct for a period not exceeding 14 days pending finalisation of investigations, which may lead to corporal punishment, exclusion or expulsion from school as remedy.
When a child is excluded from school, he or she can enrol with another school but when expelled he or she is blacklisted and cannot enrol with any formal school, according to the circular.
Indications are that when schools closed last term the majority of teachers did not return for holiday lessons and the school hired teachers for the period. Pupils took advantage of the hired teachers who were not familiar with the school’s surroundings.
Allegations are that the matron, a Mrs Nyoni, gave the keys of the gate and main door to the girls’ hostels to one of the girls who would later open for the boys to come into the hostels.
The girl was also suspended.
The pupils had allegedly smuggled cellphones into the school, which they were using to communicate and arrange their escapades.
The boys would climb a tree near the perimeter fence to the girls’ hostels and jump to the inner side before the girl would open the gate for them.
“We wonder why the head allowed children to come when there were no teachers. There were three days when the matron was not around and the pupils would spend the night having sex after the girl who had the keys had opened the hostels for them,” said a source at the school.
The development has exposed laxity in the school’s security and lack of supervision as there are reports of alcohol abuse by pupils.
Alcohol is allegedly smuggled into the school premises by day scholars.
It also emerged that two girls doing Form Three and Lower Sixth left school after falling pregnant early this year, which Mr Zidla confirmed yesterday.
Indications are that the girls would allegedly bribe the groundsman, identified as Lifa, who was manning the school in the absence of security guards.
“There is a lot of laxity and lack of supervision at the school as day scholars always bring beer and give it to boarders who then stock it in trunks. We wonder why there are no routine checks for such things,” said a member of staff.
“Right now parents and the school are pointing fingers at each other over the issue. Two of the pupils discovered they were cousins when their guardians visited the school for the disciplinary action after the two had sex.”
There are reports that a parent threatened to expose a teacher whom she said was in love with her daughter who is one of those suspended pupils and said she had evidence of the affair from the social network, Facebook.
“This whole thing is inconveniencing exam classes as it is only one month before they start writing. No classes have been going on for the past two weeks because of this issue and these are some of the things that contribute to poor results,” said a parent.
Last year the school’s pass rate was 26 percent.
Parents are now also reportedly accusing the school’s resident chaplain, Mr Mandlenkosi Ncube of not executing his duties as the overseer.
Mrs Mnguni said the issue was inconveniencing preparations for final examinations.
Online Reporter