The academic future of 2,235 pupils at Mikute Primary School in Salima is under threat after education authorities indefinitely closed the school in response to community members’ acts of violence and vandalism over three weeks ago.
On February 21, some community members beat up two teachers and vandalised the school, which is located close to the airdrome at Senga Bay. The community members, who also smashed window panes for the administration block, were reacting to mysterious fainting of some girls at the school.
School head teacher, Clement Ndhlozi, said threats on teachers and the school property forced the District Education Manager, officials from Salima Police Station, Traditional Authority Maganga, school governors and school management to convene an emergency meeting, where a resolution to temporarily close the school was made.
Some residents claim that girl learners have been fainting of late, prompting community members to suspect that ‘satanism’ is at work. Among other things, the community members suspect that satanists have cast spells on the school feeding programme, being implemented by the World Food Programme (WFP) and a social cash transfer programme for girls, which is being implemented by one mobile service provider in schools under Ngolowindo Zone.
In an interview on Wednesday, Ndhlozi said attacks on both teachers and school property came as surprise to him and other staff.
Ndhlozi said there have been cases of mysterious fainting among some girls in recent months, a situation which prompted some concerned people to hold prayers to exorcise evil spirits. The prayers were held in a nearby village on February 19.
“But [on February 21] two girls [still] fainted. One guardian, who is also Village Headman Kamange, came here to demand answers on why his child fainted and I told him I was not aware of what was happening. But, as we were discussing, a group of pupils and community members arrived at the school and targeted a Standard Seven female teacher, who was beaten and had her clothes torn.
“When one male teacher saw that the mob was beating our colleague, he made an effort to protect the teacher. But he was also roughed up and sustained injuries,” Ndhlozi said.
The head teacher added that the mob also targeted items and food bought using WFP funds.
“But we managed to stop them from breaking into the room used for storing the items. The food and items are being kept at Parachute Battalion,” Ndhlozi said.
Ndhlozi said some teachers have since written local education authorities, asking them to transfer the teachers to other schools.
In an interview on Thursday, Salima District Education Manager, Christopher Kumikundi, said the officials have initiated talks, through Traditional Authority Maganga, between the teachers and the community.
“Of course, that [rehabilitation] was supposed to be done by Friday last week but last time we checked nothing had been done. We are also going there tomorrow [yesterday] to assess the situation and, after rehabilitating the infrastructure, we will map the way forward. We are still reviewing the case,” Kumikundi said.
Community members have been holding a series of meetings in their attempt to mobilise funds for the rehabilitation.
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