By Chisomo Phiri
On Tuesday, Mzuzu Government Secondary School announced the suspension of about 133 students pending disciplinary hearing for instigating rebellious behaviour, vandalism, boycotting classes and open defiance.
According to school authorities, the development follows a series of events which emanated from a water problem since the school relies on pumped water from the ground but due to electricity challenges, there was no water in tanks, a situation which forced students to demonstrate on September 24, 2023.
Headteacher of the school, Osward Lungu, said as part of the demonstrations, the students pelted teachers’ houses and girls hostels with stones.
Lungu said the figure will likely increase because investigations are still underway to identify those that took part.
On Thursday last week, the school authorities engaged the disgruntled students, who said they were not satisfied with the way the school handled the issue and on Friday resorted to leave the school and they headed the Education Division Manager (EDM)’s office but were detained by police and were sent back to the school since they did not have permission to demonstrate.
