Pupils rampage about teachers
2003-07-22 13:29
Sizwe samaYende
Piet Retief - Schooling has been disrupted by rampaging pupils at a rural Mpumalanga school.
They barricaded the entrance in a bid to get rid of two white teachers and their principal.
Thomas Msiza of the education department said on Tuesday that classes had not resumed at Mlilo Combined School near Piet Retief since Thursday.
Education MEC Craig Padayachee would study a report that was delivered on Monday by the local circuit office, to decide on what action to take.
"This is a serious issue that cannot be taken lightly, especially because pupils want the teachers and the principal to resign," said Msiza.
Latecomers 'locked out of school'
Placard-wielding, toyi-toying pupils surprised teachers by blockading entrances with stones, burning tyres and furniture last Thursday.
They also chanted: "Kill the boer! Kill the white!"
The pupils were complaining about a maths and a science teacher.
They said they had difficulty understanding one teacher's methods, and they accused the other of keeping classroom doors and windows open because he thought that black children stank.
They also demanded that principal Jethro Mavuso leave because he locked out latecomers.
The school has 670 black pupils between Grade 1 and Grade 12 and 20 teachers, six of whom are white.
- African Eye