Durban: Grade R pupils at Windy Heights Primary School in Malagazi, near Isipingo, don’t want to go to school after witnessing their teachers being robbed at gunpoint.
The school closed on Monday as the school management met officials from the Department of Education. It reopened on Tuesday. It caters for pupils from Grade R to 7.
Trishen Govender, spokesperson for PT Alarms, said three suspects allegedly jumped over the fence and entered the school property.
"According to staff, the suspects were armed with firearms. They entered three Grade R classrooms and held the teachers at gunpoint. They took cellphones and handbags before fleeing. The pupils were terrified and ran out of the school."
Parents, who declined to be named, called for the department to increase security.
A parent said the Grade R classrooms were containers on the sportsfield, away from the rest of the school.
"My daughter told me the incident occurred just after the lunch break. She said the pupils were at their desks and the teacher was packing away some books when a man walked into the classroom and pointed a firearm at the teacher's head. He asked for her handbag, money, and cellphones. While this was happening, another man was standing outside."
"My daughter said they were scared. Some began to cry and ran out of the classroom. They wanted to go home. A relative, who lives near the school, called my husband to tell him what had happened. He rushed to the school and found chaos.
"My daughter was in shock. She had decided to stay near her teacher. My husband brought her home. She is not doing well. She is worried about her teacher and she is concerned about going back to school."
The woman said the safety of pupils needed to be prioritised.
"A school is supposed to be a safe environment. There is only one security guard at the school. Three men armed with guns can easily overpower him."
Two other teachers, in two classrooms, were also robbed in quick succession.
Another parent said her daughter refused to go back to school.
"She was one of the pupils who ran out of the classroom after the robbery. She wanted to come home to me. As she was running, the suspects were behind her. She saw them holding guns and she became hysterical. Fortunately, a friend of mine spotted my daughter. She took her safety where they waited for me."
The woman, who lives about 20 minutes from the school, said a relative had also contacted her about the incident.
"I ran to the school. All I could see were pupils from all grades running out. There were no teachers in sight. My friend, who had my daughter, saw me and shouted for me to come to get her. My daughter was in tears."
She said her daughter had sleepless nights.
"My child wakes up in the middle of the night thinking someone is chasing her. She is afraid to go back to school because she thinks the men will return. Since Friday, the only message we received from the school was that it was closed on Monday. They did not bother to alert parents to the robbery, knowing that the children were running out of the school. Our children were put in danger not once but twice.
"The school does not have funds to employ more security guards, so it is now the duty of the Department of Education to assist them. The area is known to be a crime hot spot and security for our children should be a priority. We cannot wait for something bad to happen and then react."
Aidan David, the chairperson of the eThekwini Outer South Cluster community policing forum, said the incident was a sign of how desperate criminals were.
"For children, who have just started out their schooling career, to experience something so traumatic is concerning. The school and the Department of Education need to ensure that adequate safety measures are implemented. They also need to provide counselling for pupils because they have identified a place that they believe to be safe as dangerous."
Muzi Mhlambi, the spokesperson for the Department of Education in KZN, said the incident was being investigated at the district level.
"Schools have become a playground for criminals. Every week, the department receives at least five reports of schools being broken into, or teachers being held up and robbed of their valuables. We are soft targets. Criminals are aware that the security guards and staff are not armed because it is against our policy to have weapons on school premises. They take advantage of this and we become soft targets."
The school principal and the school governing body declined to comment.
Colonel Thembeka Mbele, a provincial police spokesperson, said they were unable to locate information on the case.
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