Violence In Schools On The Rise

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Monday October 25, 2010 00:00

 

This week, after a student was slapped by a Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) invigilator, a student landed in hospital. A 17-year-old student at Letsopa Junior Secondary School in Lobatse is facing the possibility of five years in prison for assault occasioning actual bodily harm for hitting another student with a brick on the head.

According to the Station Commander for Woodhall Police in Lobatse, Cyprian Magalila, the incident happened during the lunch hour when the students argued. One picked a half brick to hit his opponent who dodged. A 15-year old who was not involved in the fight was then hit. According to Magalila, the incident was reported to the teachers who assisted the injured student up to the time he was admitted at Princess Marina Hospital in Gaborone. 

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a teacher at the school said the incident happened during lunchtime when students are not supervised. He said since the teachers stopped working undefined hours, students have been left to supervise themselves during lunch.  'According to reports from the school head the students broke one of his membranes and he has internal bleeding. He is currently being hospitalised at Princess Marina Hospital where he was taken for scans at Bokamoso Hospital,' the anonymous teacher said. In another incident in Serowe, Police are investigating a case in which an 18 year old student at Swaneng Hill School stabbed a teacher with a knife on his hand.

According to Assistant Supritendent Thomas Nkoga of Serowe Police Station, the two were in a storeroom when the student demanded that the teacher give his 'bennie', otherwise known as 'mmese' that he had taken from him. 'They are accusing each other with the student saying the teacher was branding a knife and the teacher saying it was the student with a knife. The issue is still under investigation,' Nkoga said.