Durban - Thirty-eight Durban pupils were allegedly barred from attending their matric dance on Thursday night after vandalising school property with graffiti as they celebrated their last exam.
They had spray-painted a wall with their nicknames at Parkhill Secondary School, in Greenwood Park, claiming this was what departing matrics did every year.
Teachers, who identified 38 pupils by their nicknames, tracked their parents and reportedly informed them their children were not to attend the matric ball as punishment.
The ball took place on Thursday night at a Durban hotel – without the errant pupils, some of whom had tried feverishly to get back into the principal’s good books by repainting the wall earlier this week.
While it could not be verified, the Daily News was told that one outraged parent, who had hired a convoy of bikes to escort his daughter and her partner to the dance, smashed a school window in anger.
“Other pupils from the previous years have done the same (graffiti), but we have repaired the wall and painted over it.
“We went to buy paint, stripper and cleaned the writings that were not even done by us to show remorse,” said one upset matric pupil.
The clean-up started on Tuesday afternoon when their parents received phone calls from the school, he said.
“We admitted that we sprayed the walls, but now the principal told our parents that she is withholding our matric dance money for repairs, but we have already done that; we cleaned it.”
The boy’s grandmother, who came from Johannesburg to be a part of the celebrations, described the ban as “extremely harsh”, saying the pupils had apologised.
“I can tell you he (her grandson) was looking forward to the matric ball.
“We tried till today to get her (the principal) to change her mind but she refuses to hear us, so we have had to cancel everything,” she said.
“He was supposed to have a facial and haircut today and the hired suit has been cancelled. Now we have to pay a cancellation fee.”
Her grandson, who said his exams had gone well, said he expected to pass. He planned to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a policeman.
The principal of the Greenwood Park high school, Mrs AD Bishops, told the Daily News this morning: “I’m not at liberty to comment to the media. Please proceed via the official channels of the Department of Education.”
The spokesman for the KZN Department of Education, Muzi Mahlambi, said last night that the principal was instilling discipline and that the punishment was justified.
“We have always said that there are alternatives to corporal punishment, and by removing them from the matric dance the principal has taken away some privileges from the learners,” he said.
“Because if they cannot behave at school, we can only imagine what they will do outside of school.”
Daily News