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... safety fears see Nazarene Primary, High schools closed

04/07/2012 00:00:00 KHULEKANI NENE

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SITEKI - As the teachers’ ‘Waya Waya’ protest continues, two schools have been forced to close until further notice since there are no teachers to conduct lessons.

Yesterday, pupils at Siteki Nazarene Primary and High Schools were told to remain at home until further notice.

This comes after striking teachers invaded both schools on Monday demanding that classes be abandoned. Police fired gunshots in an attempt to disperse the teachers who disrupted classes in the school resulting in pupils and teachers running in all directions.

Principal of Siteki Nazarene High School, John Tfwala, said the school administration took the decision to send pupils home after noting that the environment was not safe anymore for both pupils and teachers.

"Despite the presence of police, the teachers were able to invade the school on Monday and demonstrated outside one of the classrooms. This shows that the environment is not safe for learning to take place. We do not want to see a situation whereby pupils will be injured or school property vandalised by the teachers," he said.

Tfwala, however, clarified that they had not closed permanently, adding that they were still awaiting the outcome of the teachers’ meeting yesterday and also word from Cabinet.

At Siteki Nazarene Primary, pupils were also told to go back home until further notice. Attempts to get a comment from Deputy Principal, Winile Mvila were unsuccessful as she did not answer her mobile phone.

Both schools have foreign pupils who mostly come from neighbour-ing Mozambique. Most of these pupils were seen loading their luggage and returning to their home country.

Regional Education Officer, Well-ington Mdluli, said he was not aware that some schools had shut-down.

"I was only informed that pupils were turned back just for today. I am not aware that some schools have closed. I personally communicated with the principal at Nazarene High School and he told me that there was a meeting at the school so he told the pupils to remain home," he said.