By Shalom Manguni
Mabelreign Girls High School pupils yesterday downed their pens demanding improvement of diet as well as action against the school head who they said was running down the school.
Some male teachers were also fingered to be sexually harassing students yet nothing has been done about it.
The demonstration started at the school with pupils marching to Mabelreign police station where they implored police to investigate a host of issues.
Poor learning conditions, poor diet, verbal and physical abuse, poor sanitation, dirty water and poor resources at the learning institution were cited as reasons for the demonstrations.
The pupils displayed placards demanding the removal of the school head, Bertha Kusena as well as complaining about the poor services offered at the school
The girls forced their way out of the school through Ellis Robins School so as to reach the police station to air their grievances.
The school head girl Miriam Kusvayi said Kusena does not listen to their grievances hence leading to poor standards at the school.
“She doesn’t communicate with us and if we make a report she doesn’t give us feedback.
“We complained about the poor services being offered long back but she acts as if everything is fine.
“She is not free to us; we also want motherly talk from her but she doesn’t walk around the school just to see how we are progressing with school work,” she said.
She listed some of their grievances.
“There is no quality food here; we understand that the economy is tough but she should at least try to provide for us.
“If we complain she will say ‘chikuru kudya’. How can ten people share four pieces of meat?
“The toilets are always dirty with sewage flowing in the toilets due to plumbing issues and the hostels are always dirty. Nothing has been done about it.
“There are water problems as well; we use swimming pool water to bath, wash, brush our teeth and the water will be very dirty.
“We need to be allowed to bring laptops just like other schools. How can we research if we don’t have the resources and standards are going down?” she added.
The school sports prefect Paidamoyo Banda also complained about how the school head doesn’t support the sports sector at school.
“We are no longer involved in various sporting activities and this will be disadvantaging those who are good in sports.
“If we ask her, the explanation will be that the institution had no sport budget.
“If we happen to go for sports, we will be offered ‘dog’ (loose) biscuits the whole day; this is not fair.
“All the coaches were fired. We are no longer able to put the school on the map,” Banda said.
Junior Member of Parliament for Harare West Vanessa Chivizhe said pupils were being physically abused.
“People are being abused here, and if we make a complaint nothing is done about it.
“There is a male teacher who is always under the influence of drugs, and he physically abuses pupils and if we complain they say that’s how he is.
“When he is under the influence of drugs he uses anything to beat us,” she said.
Contacted by H-Metro for comment, the school head said she was only going to comment after the ministry addressed the issue. H-Metro