‘Bullying, gangsterism, drugs’ – Pupils tell tales of Hoërskool Die Burger

Former pupils and teachers tell tales of Hoërskool Die Burger including not having textbooks or teachers, pupils being attacked with pipes, and drug abuse on the playgrounds.

A current matriculant, who asked to remain anonymous, said there was so much wrong going on at the school.

“We hardly have books but funny enough, there are storerooms with textbooks,” she said.

The Grade 12 pupil said the violence in the school was getting out of hand.

“A few weeks ago I was walking to class when I saw a pupil covered in blood after being hit with a pipe by another pupil,” the pupil said.

“Also a week and a half ago, the school security guards confiscated a gun from one of the pupils.” There were no consequences for ill-discipline.

“Smoking dagga is like drinking water in this school. Behind the small white house by the netball field is where they go to smoke dagga or have sex. They also do it in the empty classrooms,” the pupil said.

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The pupil said the staircase with the broken windows was a danger to the pupils.

“When those windows swing open, the glass falls out and someone can get hurt.”

Some subjects, such as the technical studies and life orientation, fell away. A former teacher, who taught at the school before the pandemic, said allegations in the media were just a tip of an iceberg.

“The pupils take boxing gloves to school and gamble,” she said.

The teacher said when she started working at the school, her cellphone and laptop were stolen within the first few weeks.

“The bad apples from other schools who got expelled were sent there because the school fees were lower,” she said.

The teacher said the situation was so bad that the school tuckshop’s stock was removed each night because people kept breaking into the shop.

She said teachers brought in their relatives to help repair damage to the classrooms.

“At some point, there were only six toilets available for the whole school to use,” she said.

A former pupil said after a fight at the school three years ago, she was told by a teacher to smoke a cigarette to calm down.

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“When my parents arrived at the school, one teacher was so drunk he couldn’t look my parents in the eyes,” she said.

Another former pupil, who matriculated in 2020, said the school looked much worse now.

“The teachers tried very hard but the children are messing up the school,” he said.

“The previous principal always kept the school neat, but since he left it’s been all downhill.”