PROTESTING learners have shut down the eMtshekula High School in Pongola for most of this week and are refusing to provide reasons for their actions.
A source working at the school told the ZO that learners from Grade 10 started rioting during a meeting on Monday between school management, Grade 12 pupils and their parents to discuss the matric exam schedule.
‘During the meeting, at which Grade 12 learners and their parents were expected to sign a pledge against cheating, we heard a loud bang on the roof and the sound of breaking glass as windows were smashed.
‘We saw learners stoning windows and the building,’ the source said.
‘Classes stopped as children shouted, demanding that lessons end or else teachers would be assaulted. The teachers were really scared, so the classes were stopped.’
On Tuesday the school’s governing body held a meeting with local ward councillors.
At the meeting learners reportedly demanded that the school open at 9am and no earlier, and that the school principal, security guards and catering staff should be dismissed immediately. They gave no reason for their demands.
Pongola Ward 6 Councillor Petros Mavuso told the ZO that he was ‘disturbed’ by what he saw during his visit.
‘They have vandalised the school facilities. Everything is currently upside down.
‘We don’t know how we are going to resolve this problem because they have failed to state the reasons for their protest.
‘When the police arrived, learners stoned them and they are now singing struggle songs across the road,’ he said.
By Wednesday attempts by teachers to meet with the pupils gathered outside the building were unsuccessful.
Teachers who arrived for duty were threatened and returned home.
KZN Department of Education spokesman Muzi Mahlambi confirmed that the District Director would visit the school to investigate.
‘We are very disturbed about this incident,’ Mahlambi said.
SAPS provincial spokesperson Colonel Thembeka confirmed that police members have been at the school to monitor the situation.
‘No serious incidents have been reported as yet, and no formal case has been opened.’
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