Johannesburg - The pupils of Glenvista High School were forced to write assessments outside in the heat on Tuesday after pupils of the school allegedly torched the school hall, causing R400 000 in damages.
Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi visited the school in Mulbarton on Tuesday after the hall was burnt on Monday morning, allegedly by pupils in a bid to avoid writing assessments.
The matter came to the public’s attention after a video went viral, which showed the school’s hall curtains burning and a person trying to extinguish the fire.
Local Ward 23 councillor Sarah Wissler further speculated on her Facebook page that the pupils who allegedly set the hall ablaze were in Grade 10. Gauteng SAPS spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo told The Star that the police received a call of a building on fire at the school at 11.40 am on Monday.
“On arrival, the school principal informed the police that she was in her office when she received information that the hall was burning. At the hall she found that the whole stage was on fire,” Masondo said.
He added that the damages were estimated at about R400 000 and that the Mondeor Police have opened an inquiry for further investigation.
Lesufi, who visited the school to assess the damage, shared a photograph on social media showing the pupils writing their assessments outside because of the fire.
The MEC said he was furious at the torching of the school hall and condemned the behaviour of the pupils who did not want to write an assessment, which was scheduled to be written in the hall that afternoon.
He added that investigations into the matter by the school governing body (SGB) were ongoing, however the department could not confirm which grade the pupils who started the fire are in.
“We are devastated to discover that learners could go as far as committing an act of arson, destroying school infrastructure in the process, just to escape an important assessment. As such, we will not fix the damages caused by this fire. The school must see to finish (it),” said Lesufi.
The MEC said the blaze caused major damage to the hall curtains, projector screen, electrical wiring and PA system in the school hall.
The school’s principal Thobile Morgan said the school’s teachers were in class teaching when the fire broke out.
“The learners sneaked out of their classes, ran to the hall and torched the hall,” Morgan said.
The principal added that she did not expect this kind of behaviour from her pupils, especially as the pupils will be writing their final examinations in the coming months.
“There is no way that we can postpone the assessments so we decided that because our grounds are big enough then we can take the learners and their tables outside so that they can continue with their studies and see that even if they torch the classes, we will still continue our lessons,” Morgan said.
Grade 12 learner Nwabisa Nkabinde called the burning of her school’s hall a “tragic event” and said it negatively affected her fellow pupils as they were writing their assessments outside in the heat.
No arrests have been made so far regarding the blaze.
The Star