Times Of Swaziland: 10 SCHOOLS PROTEST IN 1 DAY, HEAD TEACHERS WORRIED

10 SCHOOLS PROTEST IN 1 DAY, HEAD TEACHERS WORRIED
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BY MELISA MSWELI AND THOKOZANI MAMBA on 23/09/2021 08:47:00


NHLANGANO – Missing classes for a long period of time due to the COVID-19
pandemic seems not to have propelled some pupils to make up for the lost time.
This is because in just one day, 10 schools, mainly in the Shiselweni and
Lubombo regions, engaged in protests, with the main agenda being the call for
the release of incarcerated Members of Parliament (MPs), Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza
of Hosea and Mthandeni Dube of Ngwempisi. In the Shiselweni Region, classes were
disturbed yesterday in eight schools as the pupils engaged in protests. It was
established that the protests started during morning assembly at Hosea High
School. The pupils were told to sing a song but instead, they started blowing
whistles and sang political songs. It was said that the teachers tried to bring
them to order but they ended up retreating to the staff room as the pupils
became violent towards them. While this drama unfolded, Hosea Primary pupils
were watching just before their assembly time.
Refused
Soon after their morning assembly ended, the primary school pupils refused to go
to their classrooms as some started banging desks and others threw stones on the
roof of the school. They then joined the high school group and headed towards
Ngozi High School. It was established that by the time they got there, the
pupils from Ngozi had also started protesting and they headed towards Jericho
Primary and High schools. As they were making their way to Jericho, police are
said to have tried to disperse them with tear gas. Worth noting is that there
were also Grade I pupils who were running along the sides as the pupils were
protesting. According to a witness, it is said that some of the pupils had to be
attended to and were given water as they were having difficulties breathing due
to the tear gas.
It is said that both Jericho Primary and High school pupils were also protesting
and they met their colleagues from the other schools along the way and formed a
huge group. The five schools were also joined by Ngololweni High School, making
a total of six schools. It was established, however, that Ngololweni pupils had
other grievances, which included that they were disturbed by livestock grazing
in the school’s premises while learning because it was not fenced. They
further said they wanted Wi-Fi connection, they did not want to find teachers at
the library and at the computer lab. Other grievances were that they did not
want to eat beans that did not have vegetables and that they wanted Buhlalu
Rice, not ‘mshamndane’. They further said they wanted new electrical plugs
fitted as they suffered electric shocks when using the ones at the school
currently.
They also needed an explanation on where the chickens they were growing as part
of their Agriculture project went to while alleging they were eaten by the
teachers. The pupils said they wanted online learning and that they did not want
to pay E50 registration fee each year as they were returning to the school. They
said, they wanted all these grievances sorted out in two days. Meanwhile,
Ngudzeni and Velebantfu High pupils were also separately protesting yesterday.
Ngudzeni pupils were said to be protesting against a E30 fee that they were made
to pay monthly for guards who guarded the school while Velebantfu pupils also
wanted the pro-change MPs released. Yesterday’s protest happened despite a
meeting that was held at Hosea over the past weekend where the pupils were told
to stop protesting and concentrate on their studies. They were told that they
would only join the protests on weekends or when they had completed school.
According to the pupils, they were protesting as per Siphofaneni MP Mduduzi
‘Gawuzela’ Simelane’s advice on Monday, during a ‘family meeting’ on
the Swaziland News online platform. They said as Simelane said in due time there
would be a day in a week which would be solely for protesting.
Protests
Worth noting is that the protests happen at a time when the external
examinations timetables have been released. Examinations will start as early as
October 11, 2021, according to the timetables from the Examinations Council of
Eswatini. The pupils, when asked if they would be ready to write their
examinations, said they would not sit for examinations as long as the MPs were
still in custody. When some of the head teachers were called for a comment, they
said they were worried about losing the little time they had left as the pupils
were protesting. Ngozi Primary Head teacher Daphne Xaba said yesterday when the
pupils started protesting, she had to tell them to go inside her office and
retrieve the MPs they were protesting for because the manner in which they
acted, it was as if they were the ones keeping the MPs. “It is frustrating,”
she said. Meanwhile, at Nkhanini High School, the pupils also embarked on a
protest, calling for the release of the incarcerated MPs. According to one of
the pupils who was called to shed light on what transpired during the protest,
he claimed that Form I pupils were the ones who started the protest after
complaining that they were attending classes on a daily basis due to a shortage
of staff.
The school is situated at Ncandweni community, which is under the Nkilongo
Inkhundla. The pupil alleged that it was around 7:30am while they had assembled
for their routine morning prayer when some pupils, the majority being in Form I,
went to deliver firewood used for cooking at the school. He claimed that upon
delivering the firewood, the pupils joined them at assembly, chanting political
songs that resulted in the rest of the pupils joining in. The pupil claimed that
the incident took place in the presence of the school’s Head teacher,
Khumbulani Ndwandwe, with another teacher. The pupil alleged that they then went
out of the school gate to mobilise learners at their sister school, Nkhanini
Primary, who also joined them. The learner claimed that they resorted to
mobilising their counterparts at Big Bend High, which is situated 2.5km away.
The pupil asserted that they were stopped by police at around 9am before
reaching the school and were told to go to their respective homes.
“A white police vehicle with police officers armed with guns and tear gas
canisters stopped us before reaching Big Bend High. They told us that what we
are doing was wrong and we should go back to our respective homes. However, we
continued with our journey while still singing. The police van sped off to our
school. Another vehicle with police officers came and they fired tear gas
canisters. We ran in different directions and some were taken by the police,”
alleged the pupil.
Comment
The school’s Head teacher, Ndwandwe, could not be reached for comment as his
mobile phone was switched off. Lubombo Regional Education Officer (REO) Richard
Dlamini said Ndwandwe alerted him about the incident that unfolded at the
school.
Dlamini said police were called to calm the situation as the pupils had
mobilised those in primary and were on their way to disturb lessons at Big Bend
High when they (police) stopped them. “We pray that the situation normalises.
I first learnt about the matter through social media and I called the head
teacher about it. I was told that the pupils wanted the release of the arrested
MPs,” the REO said.