Faizel Patel – 17/08/2021

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has condemned the actions of learners after they allegedly torched parts of Glenvista High School, south of Johannesburg causing more than four hundred thousand rands in damage.

It is understood, the learners refused to write an assessment exam on Monday after which they sneaked out of their classrooms and set fire to curtains in the school hall causing extensive damage.

Principal Thobile Morgan says she was busy in a meeting when the incident happened.

“I left the school to go and attend a directors meeting. As I was busy with the director, a teacher came in to say the hall was burning. I rushed here only to find the hall on fire. I than called the fire extinguishers, I called the police.”

Lesufi’s spokesperson Steve Mabona says the curtains, projector screen, electrical wiring and PA system were damaged by the fire.

Mabona says investigations into the matter by the SGB are ongoing.

“The MEC visited the school and he has already indicated that if a school is torched either by the members of the community or any person, the department does not fix the school. He’s indicated that the school will have to make ends meet to see how they are going to manage the process of fixing the hall.”

Mabona says Lesufi is 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 adding that discipline must be enforced in schools.

(Twitter: @FaizelPatel143)

Watch the view of the damages caused to the school hall by the fire