2015-10-26Staff Report 2 Okahao A group of schoolboys at Shaanika Nashilongo Senior Secondary School ran amok last week vandalising and smashing all the windows of one classroom block at the school. When questioned by the school principal about the reason behind their action, some boys apparently said they did not know why they had done it, while one of them said it was just something ‘of interest’ to them. Six boys including two Grade 9 and four Grade 10 learners allegedly took advantage of the power failure at school and destroyed at least 39 windows, while other learners listened in horror to the sound of the windows being broken. The boys allegedly thought nobody would recognise them as they broke windows with stones and pieces of broken furniture in the dark, but other learners positively identified them. According to Shaanika Nashilongo Senior Secondary School principal Eliakim Immanuel Kamati, the school has opened a case of malicious damage to government property with the police. Apart from the police case that is hanging over the heads of the boys, the school has proposed that the learners not be allowed back at the school during the 2016/2017 academic year. The school has also asked government to withdraw its subsidization of their school fees and hold their parents liable for the full repair and replacement of all broken windows. “We are not expelling them; it is just a recommendation that parents should look for alternative schools for their children and it is a procedure that if a candidate (pupil) misbehaves government should withdraw the subsidy,” explained Kamati. Kamati said the boys were writing exams, thus they were still in school. Shaanika Nashilongo Senior Secondary is a 40-year-old school and the destroyed block was constructed three years ago, which makes it the newest property of the school. 2015-10-26Staff Report 2
