Pupils ‘burn down Durban school’ after getting ‘bad marks’

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has condemned the burning down of a school in Durban, after pupils allegedly became enraged over poor marks they had received.

“There are claims that the fire started after chaos erupted when school reports were issued to learners who felt that the results they had obtained were not what they deserved. The learners allegedly accused teachers of giving them bad marks,” department spokesperson Kwazi Mthethwa said after the incident.

He said emergency services had been called out to Zwelinjani Secondary School in Zwelibomvu, in the Pinetown District, earlier in the day.

“Emergency teams have responded to fire incidents at the school. Buildings that were destroyed by fire include the office of the school principal, the school kitchen and staff room.”

Mthethwa said district officials had reported that that “no one was injured in the fire, but property was destroyed badly”.

“We appeal to the pupils not to resort to violence and crime or vandalising and destroying public property when addressing their concerns. We wish to also emphasise that we will not reward anarchy by building another school, when in fact it was destroyed deliberately,” MEC Kwazi Mshengu said.

Police are investigating the incident. No arrests have been made yet.

The official cause of the fire has yet to be confirmed.

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