School Suspends 304 Learners Over "Illegal Strike"
St Albert’s Secondary School in Centenary, Mashonaland Central Province, recently suspended 304 pupils for taking part in “an illegal strike”.
The learners were suspended after walking 52km to Mt Darwin demonstrating against the expulsion of 23 others.
However, by Tuesday, some of the learners had returned to the school.
The Herald reported sources as saying the 23 pupils had been expelled without the approval of the regional education office, as required by the law.
The learners had paid money for a disco to play in advance, but it got to the school when it was time for them to retire to bed.
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After they became violent, the school headmistress allowed the disco to play into the early hours of Sunday, 18 September.
School-leavers and other outsiders who had been allowed to attend the disco were allegedly partly to blame for the damage which left some windows shattered.
Most of the suspended pupils are in Forms Two and Three with a few in Form One.
The learners who walked to Mt Darwin were also demanding that the school provide more textbooks for A-level Geography and Divinity pupils.
They were also protesting against alleged victimisation by some teachers who borrowed money from pupils and the quality and quantity of food the school was providing.
St Albert’s, which offers both day and boarding facilities, has a total of 625 pupils.
The other complaint raised by the learners was that a high number of teachers were allegedly going out with female pupils.
Following the protests, the headmistress of the school, Sister Romano Donato, sent circulars to the parents of the affected pupils.
She instructed the learners to write a report to the school indicating the reasons for taking part in an “illegal strike”.
The Herald reported that efforts to get comments from the regional office and the Ministry of Education and Culture were fruitless.
More: Pindula News
