FEMALE ST MARK’S PUPIL STORMS STAFFROOM TO STAB TEACHER

MBABANE – St Mark’s High School teachers were petrified when a female pupil stormed the staffroom, armed with a knife, to stab a male teacher.

Another teacher was injured on his hand when he and the armed Grade 10 pupil wrestled for the knife. The incident, which left teachers at the school shocked, happened on Friday morning. Sources said the injured teacher was not the pupil’s target.  According to the source, the pupil intended to stab another teacher, but the one who got injured tried to intercept the pupil and they ended up wrestling for the knife.  Her target was another male teacher, who was in the staffroom. The incident was confirmed by the Head teacher of the school, Khanyisile Shabangu.

Contention

She explained that the bone of contention between the teacher and the pupil was that he (teacher) had engaged her (pupil’s) mother concerning her behaviour. She said they had not yet received a report from the pupil, but had referred her to the Guidance and Counselling Department. Shabangu said they would, however, request her to give her account on what fuelled her anger.  However, she said according to the teacher, he had engaged the pupil’s mother about her behaviour in class, as she would burst into tears and cry, out of the blue. “The conversation was held in front of the pupil, something which angered her.” This, according to the head teacher, did not sit well with the pupil, who felt that the teacher had to engage her first.

Shabangu said the child interjected while the teacher and her mother were speaking. She said the teacher then told the pupil that he was not speaking to her and the mother sided with him, hence the learner got very angry, such that she bought a knife on her way to school and attacked the teacher after morning assembly. Shabangu said another male teacher, who was trying to disarm the pupil, got injured in the process and cut his wrist. The head teacher said the pupil’s mother was a former learner at the school and was taught by the same educator who was now teaching her daughter. She said the pupil was a troubled child and would cry out of the blue and at times cut herself on the wrist. Shabangu added that they were working on the matter collectively with the pupil’s mother.

Matter

Reached for comment, Hhohho Regional Education Officer (REO) Dr Nathi Nkambule said he was informed by the inspector, who told him that he was called by the head teacher to inform him about the matter. Nkambule said he had not received a formal report of what exactly happened. He said when he received the call from the inspector, he suggested that the pupil be brought to their office in order to try and assess her condition under their Guidance and Counselling Department. “We are hoping to meet the pupil today,” Nkambule said.
He said they relied on the Guidance and Counselling Department a lot, as they were well trained and capable of investigating, adding that their skills at times resulted in the changing of the first report by the head teacher completely, as they did a thorough job.  Meanwhile, the teenager’s mother was also called and she requested not to comment on the matter, which she said it was being handled by the Domestic Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (DCS) Unit under the Royal Eswatini Police Service. 

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